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State House Republicans Move Senate Abortion Bill as Year End Nears

Late last night, Republicans moved the controversial Senate Bill 3 out of the House Health Committee, continuing the movement of the bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

The bill passed the committee along partisan lines, and could be voted on by the House as early as next week.  

When the bill was passed through the Senate, Governor Tom Wolf said he would veto the bill if it makes it to his desk, saying that it “flies in the face of everything I stand for.”  

“Put simply, women’s health care decisions should be left up to women and their doctors, not politicians in Harrisburg,” Wolf said Monday.  

“It’s an issue that you are either going to be voting for or against, whether you are going to be pro-life or pro-abortion,” House Health Committee Chair Matt Baker (R-Bradford) said, according to the Inquirer.  

The State Democratic Party took the vote as a chance to push against three of the Republicans running for Governor. 

“Scott Wagner, Paul Mango, and Mike Turzai support and have openly advocated for the most restrictive abortion bill in the country which would force women and girls who have been the victims of rape or incest to carry a pregnancy to term,” Pa. Dems Communications Director Beth Melena said in a statement.  

Wagner was a co-sponsor of SB3 when it was in the senate, while Mango and Turzai have both spoken in favor of the bill.  

In his Faith, Family, and Pennsylvania Values plan, Mango said he would “call on the legislature to pass SB3,” and Turzai said “it is important the legislature send one of these bills, Rep. Rapp’s House Bill 77 or Senate Bill 3, to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk” earlier this year to the Inquirer.

6 Responses

  1. Government so small, it can fit in your uterus! Nothing like screaming about keeping government out of your healthcare on Monday, and voting to interfere with a woman’s ability to make a decision based on the medical advice of her doctor on Tuesday.

  2. This is nothing more than a political stunt heading into the 2018 election year. It is done to produce 3 things. 1. Identify the small number of Republicans who are pro-choice, 2. Put most Democrats on record voting against the bill as a few in rural districts will vote for it and 3. Force Wolf to veto it so they can run ads against him in rural districts. Always remember, from 2011 to 2015, the Republicans had majority in both the PA House and Senate plus Corbett as governor and THEY DID NOT PASS THIS LEGISLATION THEN WHEN THEY COULD MAKE IN LAW.

  3. I’m 100 percent pro-life, but PhillyPolitico is right. The House GOP will force members to cast a vote on bill that has zero chance to become law, but will definitely be used against them. Those who vote NO could open themselves up to a primary challenge from the right, while YES votes will be used against Republicans in moderate/swing districts.
    It’s one thing to stick out your neck politically when the legislation is actually going to become law; it’s just plain dumb when the bill is sure to face a certain veto.

  4. Good to see that our hard-working legislators are wasting their time on a bill that is arguably unconstitutional and in any event will never become law under Governor Wolf.

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