Recent special elections in Pennsylvania have helped to usher in a new era in the Keystone State—an era in which, sadly, preborn children and their mothers face new legislative attacks.

             With Democrats winning all three February special elections, the leadership of the PA House of Representatives is now in pro-abortion hands. As a result, citizens are bracing for a pro-abortion legislative assault from the lower chamber.

             Pro-abortion legislative leaders would like to dismantle the Abortion Control Act. That landmark law was the basis of the U.S. Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. The law not only served as a model for the rest of the nation, but also gave rise to hundreds of additional protections for preborn children and their mothers throughout the various states.

            The Abortion Control Act is a common sense law which provides for informed consent, parental consent, a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, a late-term abortion ban, and a ban on sex selection abortions.

             It will be incumbent on pro-life advocates in Pennsylvania to contact their state representatives and make the case that the ACA is a time-tested law and should not be changed. Ironically, the move to dismantle the ACA comes at a time when abortions are on the rise in PA—fueled by a dramatic increase in chemical abortions.

            Abortion facilities throughout the Commonwealth are also openly marketing to women in other states, hoping to boost their bottom lines with customers beyond Pennsylvania’s borders. Abortion business executives have made it clear—they want to expand abortion in Pennsylvania.   

  Statistics show 33,206 abortions took place in Pennsylvania in 2021, an increase of 1,083 abortions over the 2020 total of 32,123. Imagine how many kindergarten classes the number 1,083 represents. We mourn the loss of these precious children, who never got the chance to see their mother’s face.

             Thankfully, the Pennsylvania state Senate stands as a firewall against pro-abortion initiatives coming from a hostile PA House of Representatives and Governor’s Office. The upper chamber will no doubt be playing defense against what is expected to be a flurry of pro-abortion legislation coming from the PA House.

            Gratefully, PA is also home to a vibrant, energetic pro-life movement which stands ready to defend the most vulnerable among us—no matter what the political odds.

They had both been born in the same country, but never met until after each had migrated to the U.S. They were young and filled with hope when they married—a union which would lead to seven children.

He supported his family as a barber, but he found that, in times of economic downturn, customers could be hard to come by. At Christmastime, a local firehouse would provide gifts for his beloved children, who well knew the poverty of their state in life.

These were my Italian grandparents, Leonard and Theresa. They may have had little in material goods, but they had plenty of love to spare.

I think of them often when pro-abortion politicians threaten to take away the Hyde Amendment, which ensures no taxpayer funding of abortion except in the rare cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.

I think of my grandparents because, while materially poor, they were rich in principles. And they viewed each of their children as a treasure.

It is condescending and classist to claim that low-income people “need” abortion. What they need is material and emotional support for themselves and their families. It seems especially revolting if a pregnant woman needs help with her rent payment and she is instead extended a cold-hearted offer to take the life of her preborn child.

It has been estimated that 2.5 million Americans are alive today because of the Hyde Amendment. It has stood the test of time and should not be tampered with. Attacking the Hyde Amendment is an attack on people who lack basic resources. It is unconscionable, and should not be permitted in a civilized society.

The days of the slogan “safe, legal, and rare” are long gone in Pennsylvania. Some lawmakers make no secret of the fact that they do not want abortion to be rare–in fact, they are making every effort to increase abortions in the Commonwealth.

A co-sponsorship memo by state Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny County) is the latest example of this disturbing trend.

The proof lies in the subject line of the memo: “Expanding Access to Abortion.”

Rep. Frankel wants to expand the “pool of providers” by having non-doctors perform abortions. As he states, “I am introducing legislation that would allow physician assistants, nurse-midwives, and certified registered nurse practitioners to prescribe medication abortion.”

He is referring to chemical abortions, which are rapidly eclipsing surgical abortions as the leading cause of death of preborn babies in Pennsylvania. A number of legitimate safety concerns–both physical and psychological– have been raised about chemical abortions for mothers.

Rep. Frankel is in the minority in the PA House of Representatives, but abortion giant Planned Parenthood is doing its best to change that, pouring countless dollars into campaigns to replace pro-life lawmakers with pro-abortion zealots. This is why it is incumbent upon voters to know the stands of office-seekers when it comes to the life-or-death issue of abortion.

Pennsylvania is home to a staggering 32,000 abortions each year.
We cannot afford policies that seek to expand that number even further.

HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation issued the following statement in the wake of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s lawsuit against a Constitutional Amendment which would keep abortion out of the PA Constitution:

“The Pennsylvania General Assembly has a right to seek to amend the Constitution, and to do so without the consent of the Governor,” said Maria Gallagher, legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.

“Prior to Roe v. Wade, the common law, statutory law, and case law of Pennsylvania all prohibited abortion. Therefore, Gov. Wolf’s claims that this Amendment is ‘removing rights’ from the Constitution or ‘scaling back’ on a fundamental right of privacy that includes a right to abortion is false,” Gallagher said.

“Such a right never existed in the Pennsylvania Constitution. There is no reference to ‘abortion’ in the PA Constitution nor is there any case construing the PA Constitution to include a right to abortion,” Gallagher added.

Pro-abortion groups, however, have filed a lawsuit–currently before the PA Supreme Court–trying to get the current Court to find a non-existent right to abortion in the Constitution and to force taxpayers to fund abortion.

This Amendment simply states that the Constitution itself does not mandate these things and it leaves the decision of what the law should be regarding abortion to the elected representatives of the people–not to the Court.

In the absence of this amendment, the Court could usurp the legislative function and require that abortion be allowed on demand up until birth and also require that taxpayers fund it—all contrary to the will of the people!

************************************************************************The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a grassroots right-to-life organization with members statewide.  As the state affiliate of National Right to Life, PPLF is committed to promoting the dignity and value of human life from conception to natural death and to restoring legal protection for preborn children.