Monday marks the 51st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the landmark abortion case that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in 2022. This year, abortion rights advocates and lawmakers say they are not dwelling on what was lost but looking for a way forward.
For Pennsylvania state Reps. Liz Hanbidge (D-Mongtomery) and Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester), that means a constitutional amendment. House Bill 1888 would create a “fundamental right to personal reproductive freedom” in the state constitution if approved by voters.
“As a mother of an 8-year-old girl who could potentially be affected by the outcome within the next decade, I want to see those rights enshrined in the Constitution because I don’t want her rights to be subject to a veto from the governor, or a majority of one seat on the Supreme Court, or any of the many things we’ve done to defend reproductive rights in Pennsylvania over the last generation,” Otten told the Capital-Star. “I think we need to put an end to this once and for all.”
HB 1888 is similar to legislation introduced in the House in 2022 to put a constitutional right to abortion on the ballot. This bill follows an earlier attempt in 2022 by Republican Party legislators — which controlled both houses of Parliament at the time — to introduce an amendment that would have made clear that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to taxpayer-funded abortion or access to abortion.
“Historically, we’ve come this close to proposing a constitutional amendment that was written in a way that would fool voters into thinking it was just about taxpayer-funded abortion, when in fact it would prohibit a constitutional right to abortion in Pennsylvania,” Hanbidge said.
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The Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendment must pass both houses of the legislature in two consecutive sessions before it goes to voters. Even if voters approve it, the proposed amendment could still face legal challenges, but if it wins any legal battles, it would become part of the Constitution.
The bill had its first hearing in December before the House Judiciary Committee. During the hearing, Minority Leader Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-Franklin) said in closing arguments that he “cannot imagine this legislation passing. It would be terrible for the women, children, families, minorities of Pennsylvania who are desperately affected by abortion.” He made his comments while holding a plastic doll meant to represent a 22-week-old fetus.
Hanbidge and Otten are realistic that the proposed amendment is unlikely to pass the GOP-controlled state Senate. “But just because we can’t get it through both chambers right now doesn’t mean we’re not trying,” Otten said. The earliest HB 1888 could appear on the ballot is 2025.
In the last two elections, reproductive rights advocates in several states have won hard-fought battles to regain some of the protections lost when Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision. Residents of California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont voted to support abortion access or strengthen reproductive rights when this issue was on their ballot in 2022.
In November, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment that makes abortion legal and leaves medical decisions up to doctors and patients. And in Pennsylvania, an exorbitant campaign by reproductive rights groups and their supporters to strengthen the Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court has proven effective.
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More than $19 million was spent on campaign ads and communications, much of which portrayed Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio as an anti-abortion candidate trying to hide her former views. She disputed those claims.
Democrat Dan McCaffery, he defeated Carluccio with a score of over 53% votes because abortion rights supporters have made it clear that the behavior of the majority of Democrats on the pitch was crucial not only for the present but also for the future: The court is considering a case that questions the abortion ban for people using the Medicaid program in Pennsylvania, a decision that can be made at any time.
This is not a time for relief, however, abortion rights advocates agree, even in Pennsylvania, where abortion is illegal. legal up to 24 weeks and Governor Josh Shapiro supports abortion rights.
“Sometimes people talk about Pennsylvania as an access state because we’re not like the Southern states where we have complete or near-complete bans,” said Susan J. Frietsche, co-executive director of the Women’s Law Project, a Pennsylvania public interest nonprofit. “But the reality is that it’s very difficult for many people to get an abortion, even in Pennsylvania.”
She listed a list of regulations – many of which, she notes, are not evidence-based – “that only make it harder to provide care,” such as: rules for elevator size in a clinic where abortion procedures are performed.
“We have mandatory waiting periodlike grown women can’t figure out what to do about their pregnancy on their own without the government forcing them to stop and think some more,” Frietsche said. “It’s not only offensive, it actually acts as a real barrier for a lot of people.”
Keeping voters focused on the importance of local elections, as civil rights advocates did in the state Supreme Court race in November, is another key strategy for protecting reproductive rights.
Samantha Paisley, national spokeswoman for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, told the Capital-Star that her organization recognized early on the significance of the state Supreme Court election “and how important a factor it would be in determining reproductive rights in Pennsylvania.”
She noted that DLCC has invested a historic six-figure sum in the race, “but we know that the abortion rights situation in Pennsylvania is still very much in jeopardy.”
That’s why the DLCC has identified the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as its top target for endorsements in 2024. The House of Representatives is currently tied 101-101 between Republicans and Democrats, pending the outcome February 13 special elections to replace longtime Democratic Rep. John Galloway of Bucks County, who resigned after being elected district judge in November.
“We know that this race will not only determine what majority power looks like in the House of Representatives, but it will also determine the future of abortion rights in Pennsylvania,” Paisley said. “We know that building Democratic power in the states, especially in a post-Roe environment, is the only way to ensure reproductive freedoms.”
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And Pennsylvania Democratic Party elected officials will be out in force Monday to commemorate the anniversary of Roe and keep abortion rights and access front and center for voters. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-12th District) will host a news conference in Pittsburgh with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
“Our control over our bodies, our future — and our children’s control over their bodies and their futures — all come down to stopping Trump’s abortion ban in this election,” Lee told the Capital-Star. “Western Pennsylvania is the front line of this fight because the reality is that the same Pennsylvania Republicans who are working to criminalize abortion have been denying care to Black, Brown, poor, working class and rural people since long before the Trump Supreme Court overturned Roe. 2024 has just begun, and we are already organizing up and down the ballot to stop Trump’s ban and make reproductive health care a reality for all.”
State Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia) will hold a news conference in Harrisburg with Democratic colleagues including Hanbidge and Otter to introduce a bill aimed at making protected abortion more accessible in Pennsylvania.
U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-4th District) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-5th District) will join state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) in Philadelphia for a news conference where they will outline “how Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans worked to overturn Roe, Trump’s plans for a nationwide abortion ban,” according to the release.
This level of vocal support for abortion rights from politicians is something that would not have been so common just a few years ago. Frietsche said seeing voters support the constitutional amendment in neighboring Ohio is the latest example of a rebuttal to longstanding analysis that talking about abortion is a toxic political issue.
Part of the November strategy also involved beating the drum to remind voters what was at stake. Freitsche said that approach worked remarkably well.
“I think people who support abortion rights and reproductive freedom have really stepped up since Dobbs and done a phenomenal, shockingly wonderful job of breaking down really terrible barriers,” she said, referring to the Supreme Court case that led to Roe being overturned. “Sometimes people say there are more pro-choice people than anti-abortion people, but that the anti-abortion people have all the passion. That’s not true. Maybe that was true at one time, but it’s not true anymore.”
