To save reproductive freedom in Pennsylvania, we must block an anti-abortion constitutional amendment Senate Bill 956.
If, as expected, Roe v Wade is overruled or further weakened in the next few months and SB 956 subsequently is adopted, abortion could be completely criminalized in Pennsylvania.
Anti-abortion constitutional amendment SB 956 seeks to establish personhood for fertilized eggs as “the policy of Pennsylvania.”
SB 956 is already advancing toward passage. It passed out of the Health and Human Services Committee in the Pennsylvania House in January, 2022.
There has been no public debate.
This is the language the amendment seeks to permanently anchor into the Pennsylvania state constitution:
“The policy of Pennsylvania is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution. Nothing in this Constitution grants or secures any right relating to abortion or the public funding thereof. Nothing in this Constitution requires taxpayer funding of abortion.”
Our analysis of how the amendment could be interpreted:
- SB 956 paves the way to criminalizing all abortion in Pennsylvania by permanently rewriting our state constitution – and therefore the policy of Pennsylvania – to make the rights of fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses paramount over those of pregnant people.
- SB 956 opens the door to complete criminalization, Texas-style citizen vigilante bans, and restricting activities of pregnant people perceived to potentially harm the zygote, embryo or fetus.
- In addition to eliminating reproductive freedom and abortion access, SB 956 would likely interfere with miscarriage management, treatment for ectopic pregnancy, and reproductive technologies such as IVF.
SB 956 is a constitutional amendment, so it cannot be vetoed by the governor. It is easier to pass constitutional amendments in Pennsylvania than most other states. In Pennsylvania, constitutional amendments must pass by simple majority in two consecutive sessions and then be approved by a majority of voters in a primary or general election.
If we do not successfully intervene, SB 956 may go on the ballot as early as May 2023 and be implemented in 2023.
Medical experts warn criminalizing abortion would harm public health by increasing maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Criminal justice experts warn criminalizing abortion will lead to a wave of mass incarceration unseen since the failed war on drugs.
Black women, low-income pregnant people, and people from marginalized communities bear the brunt of the immense cost of the baseless fiction that criminalizing abortion ends abortion. They will suffer the most acute medical and economic harm, will be most surveilled and investigated for miscarriage and other pregnancy outcomes that fall short of a full-term healthy baby, and disproportionately investigated and incarcerated.
You can read the letter of opposition to SB 956 that we sent to Pennsylvania lawmakers here.
TAKE ACTION!
Individuals: Contact Your PA Senator!
Contact your Pennsylvania Senator and urge them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 956. You can send an email to your PA Senator here as a first step – but we need you continue to repeatedly contact your Senator in every way possible as often as you can, including on their social media.
Organizations: Submit a Letter
Are you part of a group or organization in Pennsylvania? If so, please consider submitting a letter of opposition to SB 956 from your group. Please send questions and letters to Tara Murtha at tmurtha@womenslawproject.org and Amal Bass at abass@womenslawproject.org.
Send members of other groups and organizations this page and urge them to also submit letters of opposition.
Need a Presentation?
If you are part of an organization or group and would like a speaker to inform members of your organization about SB 956 and additional threats to reproductive health and rights in Pennsylvania, contact Tara Murtha at tmurtha@womenslawproject.org.
