Earlier we alerted you that the Pennsylvania State Senate scheduled HB1948 to be voted on today. Unfortunately, it was later decided upon that no votes would take place and that the Senate would officially close out the 2015-2016 session.
After overwhelmingly passing the State House back in June, it’s disappointing that we have run out of time to pass this much-needed improvement this session.
We knew it was a tough road to climb, especially with Governor Tom Wolf promising a veto. I will admit, it is frustrating when advancements in medicine now save the majority of babies born at 24 weeks, and Pennsylvania law continues to give no protection to these babies from abortion at the same stage in development.
But I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful we will see this change in law because no matter what happened today, there are a growing number of states improving their laws by ending late-term abortion – it’s up to 19 states now.
Today doesn’t change the fact that kids like Will, Lydia and Jackson show us the humanity of babies at or prior to 24 weeks. And just like the polls show us, more and more people agree that late-term abortion should not be allowed.
It doesn’t change the fact that abortion rates are down, that Planned Parenthood clinics are closing and that this election season brought about more pro-life leaders at both the state and federal level.
So thank you for your support. I’m grateful to be partnering with you for these pro-life, pro-family efforts in Pennsylvania. I promise you that if we can count on your support and involvement, we will together lead the effort to see late-term abortion thrown into the ash heap of Pennsylvania history.
For life,
Tom Shaheen
Vice President for Policy, Pennsylvania Family Council
