Tom Waring, the Wire
State Rep. Steve Santarsiero, the Democratic nominee in the 8th Congressional District, issued the following statement in reaction to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court vote that upheld women’s access to abortion services:
“I applaud today’s Supreme Court decision that reaffirms the constitutional right women have to make their own medical decisions. The Texas law endangered women’s access to reproductive health care and demonstrates why we need public officials to continue to advocate for women. In Congress, I’ll continue to stand with Planned Parenthood and other women’s health organizations that work to defend and protect a woman’s right to choose and promote women’s health.”
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5–3 vote that a Texas law was unconstitutional.
One part of the law requires all clinics in the state to meet the standards for ambulatory surgical centers. The other requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said there was good reason to think that the restrictions were meant to and did protect women.
“The law was one of many enacted by states in the wake of the Kermit Gosnell scandal, in which a physician who ran an abortion clinic in Philadelphia was convicted for the first-degree murder of three infants who were born alive and for the manslaughter of a patient,” he wrote.
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Meanwhile, state Rep. Tina Davis is applauding the Supreme Court’s ruling, but worries about Pennsylvania House of Representatives passage of H.B. 1948, a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies, and end so-called “dismemberment abortions.”
The bill passed by a vote of 132–65. Davis and Reps. Frank Farry and Scott Petri voted against the measure. Reps. Gene DiGirolamo and John Galloway voted for it.
Even if the bill passes the Senate, Gov. Tom Wolf has said he will veto it.
“While the Supreme Court’s decision is a triumph for women across the country, Pennsylvania women are potentially facing one of the most restrictive health care bills in the country. We must fight these extreme attacks on women by electing leaders like Hillary Clinton,”
