STOP EXTREME ANTI-ABORTION BILLS IN PA SENATE

Pennyslvania Feminists:

On Monday, the PA Senate will vote on SB 3- a bill that will ban health plans that contract with the exchange from covering abortion and, even more damaging, they will vote on an amendment to SB 732 that would apply the ambulatory surgical facility regulations to abortion providers that provide abortions past 9 weeks - an incredibly dangerous and damaging amendment for all independent providers in the state. This amendment would turn SB 732 into a bill that resembles HB 574, that recently passed in the House. The State House recently passed HB 574, which will severely limit the facilities available to women in the state for abortion. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calls it a "phony response" to the Gosnell case, just an excuse by extremists to further limit the constitutional rights of women, and it is. The combination of these bills will dramatically change abortion access in Pennsylvania and put women's health in serious danger.

Not surprisingly, anti-abortion advocates are using the Philadelphia Gosnell situation to push through these restrictions, and both bills are being billed as 'choice' votes. We must put up the best fight possible to defeat these bills/amendments and urge moderate members to stand up for patient safety and against the characterization of these votes as black and white abortion votes.

Find your PA legislator here and contact your Senator, asking for a NO vote on SB 3, and a NO vote to the SB 732 amendment which would reclassify abortion providers as ambulatory surgical facilities. This amendment, just like HB 574, if passed, will likely cause most of our 20 free-standing clinics to close, curtail the services they provide, and/or increase the cost of a procedure beyond many women's reach. This is not about protecting women, as conservative lawmakers allege, the intent is to make sure Pennsylvania women no longer have access to safe and legal abortion.

It is especially important to call these Senators Monday, if you are a constituent, or pass this message to people who are constituents:

Joe Scarnati
Dominic Pileggi
John Yudichak
John Wozniak
Mary Jo White
Jim Brewster
Tim Solobay
Jay Costa
Ted Erickson
Mike Stack
Stewart Greenleaf
Richard Kasunic
Lisa Baker
John Blake
Pat Browne
Andy Dinniman
Wayne Fontana
Kim Ward

Since the 2010 elections, the country and many states, including Pennsylvania, has taken on a more conservative agenda, which has serious repercussions for women, including drastic restrictions on access to health care, maternity care, contraception, and abortion. Your legislators needs to know you are pro-choice- remind them often!!

Pennsylvania law should support the provision of safe, legal abortion and not stigmatize the procedure and push it into the hands of illegal, dangerous practitioners who threaten and endanger women’s lives and health. The situation in the Gosnell clinic happened because the PA Department of Health was not enforcing existing regulations. If we want to avoid more “clinics of horror” like the one in Philadelphia, then we need to urge our senators not to support these unreasonable proposals that will in turn hurt women rather than help them.