HARRISBURG, June 27, 2016 – Two co-chairs of the legislature’s Women’s Health Caucus praised today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas abortion law that caused all but a few clinics there to close. The number of clinics in Pennsylvania also dropped after a more limited version of the stricken law was enacted here in 2011.
State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, said: “Today’s 5-3 decision by the Supreme Court clearly exposes the sham arguments made by abortion opponents that restricting access to safe, legal abortion is somehow in the best interest of women and their health.
“The motivation for these draconian legislative proposals – requiring hospital admitting privileges for abortion providers and requiring expensive construction overhauls of abortion facilities – has been clear to many of us for a long time,” said Frankel, the WHC House Democratic chair. This should also put the brakes on Pennsylvania efforts to pass additional abortion restrictions. It’s great to see the United States Supreme Court strike down the terrible law in Texas.”
Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks, said: “Today’s ruling is an important victory for a woman’s constitutional right to make her reproductive decisions. It reinforces very clearly that government cannot burden this right simply by claiming it is protecting women’s health.
“Those who want to restrict reproductive rights now know for sure that they have to prove their claims,” said Schwank, the WHC Senate Democratic chair. “And that just like decisions on health care, decisions on health legislation need to be based on facts.”
The Pennsylvania Women’s Health Caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral caucus of legislators partnering with interest groups and advocacy organizations to develop and implement legislation and social policy that protects and respects a woman’s right to make private, personal medical decisions.
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