Extremist Pennsylvania lawmakers have just proposed one of the most unusual and dangerous—and unconstitutional– abortion bills in the country.
Senate Bill 3, sponsored by Pennsylvania Senator Michele Brooks, a politician with no medical experience or expertise, is a bizarre double abortion restriction similar to House Bill 1948. Last session, HB1948 was fast-tracked through the legislative process with its champions repeatedly rejecting input from doctors and medical experts, who strongly oppose these measures. (HB1948 was stopped before passing into law.)
SB 3 seeks to arrest and jail a physician if she or he performs a pregnancy termination after 19 weeks’ gestation, no matter what the circumstances or reason. In fact, the legislation explicitly orders physicians to disregard a diagnosis of potential suicide if forced to continue to carry the pregnancy. There are no exceptions for rape, incest or fetal anomaly.
SB3 also contains a “method ban” provision. If this provision became law, physicians could be arrested for performing dilation & evacuation (D&E) the most medically tested pregnancy termination procedure, under any circumstances. D&E is often used in the course of addressing miscarriages.
By criminalizing pregnancy termination at 20 weeks, doctors could be forced to deprive patients with unviable pregnancies of standard care, like this Texas woman who was forced to endure the days-long experience of her body expelling the fetus, against her will, because of a similar ban.
SB3 is another example of political interference and government over-reach into the exam room. “Research shows that surgical abortion procedures are safer than labor induction,” says Dr. Lisa Perriera, abortion provider and women’s Law Project board member. “Why are Pennsylvania lawmakers ignoring medical evidence?”
To be clear, this legislation is designed to punish women for choosing abortion–and that includes punishing women who experience medically complicated pregnancies, sexual assault, and severe fetal anomalies, which are often diagnosed in the 20th and 21st week of pregnancy.
SB3 has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where a vote is scheduled for Monday.
We need your help to defeat this legislative attack on women, families and physicians in Pennsylvania.
TAKE ACTION ONE STEP AT A TIME:
FIND members of the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee here.
CONTACT them any way you can, giving phone calls a priority, to urge them to OPPOSE SB3.
Prepare for a possible full vote in the Senate by FINDING your state Senator in the Committee of 70’s Citizen Guide.
CONTACT your state Senator any way you can, giving phone calls a priority, and urge them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 3.
SPREAD THE WORD by posting this alert on social media. Contact reporters. Post on lawmakers’ social media pages. They intend to fast-track this bill, and we need to be visible and make noise.
Thank you for speaking up for physicians, women and families in Pennsylvania, and against political interference and government over-reach.
The Women’s Law Project is the only public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing the rights of women and girls.
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