Amid a well-documented maternal mortality crisis and pandemic, chair of the Pennsylvania House Health Committee Rep. Kathy Rapp is prioritizing legislation that medical experts say would increase maternal mortality.
On Tuesday, May 24, the Pennsylvania House Health Committee plans to advance three anti-abortion bills strongly opposed by medical experts because they would harm public health.
We urge you to contact members of the PA House Health Committee and your Representative and urge them to OPPOSE this legislation.
HB 118 (Ryan-R): Forced death certificate/ “fetal remains” bill: This legislation will affect any Pennsylvanian who experiences miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or abortion. It inserts a false medical claim into Pennsylvania law by changing the definition of “fetal death” to a “product of conception” from any point in pregnancy.
This bill furtively mandates a death certificate for all pregnancy loss, no matter how early, to be submitted to the state where “extended family members” and attorneys can request it. The death certificate automatically becomes public record in 50 years.
This bill turns an option into a mandate. While this bill’s supporters misleading claim this bill merely gives patients the option to mark their pregnancy loss or termination with ritual burial or cremation, nothing in the law currently prevents patients from accessing these services now. Filing a death certificate costs $20, so this bill may effectively install a fine on early pregnancy loss in Pennsylvania.
Patients whose personal perspectives or faith do not find the same significance in their pregnancy loss or abortion as the Pennsylvania legislators supporting this legislation will face an additional financial penalty for non-compliance if they do not want a death certificate or ritual burial. The cost is not specified.
Pennsylvania-based psychologists who have personally experienced miscarriage have stepped forward to publicly oppose this legislation on the grounds that it may traumatize patients. The death certificate requests “a name” for the miscarriage or abortion, includes spaces for “mother” and “father,” and requests a copy of the patient’s driver’s license.
HB 904 (Borowicz-R): Six-week abortion ban: This bill seeks to criminalize abortion at six weeks with no exceptions for rape, incest, or when the pregnant person’s life is at risk. Physicians who refuse to comply with a legislative demand to provide Pennsylvanians substandard medical care could face criminal charges.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) strongly opposes this legislation and asserts it would “likely increase negative health outcomes and complications, including maternal and infant mortality.”
Because many people don’t even know they are pregnant at this stage including, as she conceded when asked, the bill’s sponsor, this bill is would effectively criminalize all abortion in Pennsylvania.
HB 1500 (Klunk-R) Down syndrome ban: A “reason” abortion ban that targets families navigating complicated pregnancies. Specifically, this legislation seeks to prevent open, honest dialogue between a physician and their patient exactly when they need it most.
This legislation intrudes on the physician-patient relationship by deterring both physician and patient from engaging in open conversation in the wake of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.
ACOG strongly opposes this legislation and asserts it would “endanger the health of women” and represents “gross interference in the patient-physician relationship, creating a system in which patients and physicians are forced to withhold information or outright lie in order to ensure access to care. In some cases, this will come at a time when a woman’s health, and even her life, is at stake.” ACOG also states such legislation “will compel high-risk women to endanger their lives, increasing maternal mortality.”
Beyond patient harm, this legislation represents gross exploitation of disability rights, which is why not a single disability rights organization supports it.
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you. Please consider supporting our work.
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