Representative Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) proposed two bills to promote abortion in the Keystone State: an abortion training program and a bill to require insurers to cover abortion without cost sharing.
In a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for her training measure, the democratic socialist representative from south Philadelphia indicated the legislation would bestow funding on the Pennsylvania Department of Health to provide medical professionals with up-to-date abortion instruction.
“It is important that Pennsylvania be a safe state for people seeking abortions,” Fiedler wrote. “To make Pennsylvania such a place, we must ensure that healthcare providers are trained with the most up-to-date information on how to provide reproductive health services.”
Her other bill would require insurance companies to cover pregnancy terminations without demanding cost sharing from customers in the form of copayments, deductibles or coinsurance.
“Abortion is health care and health care is a human right,” she stated. “Therefore, people should not be prevented from receiving abortion services due to cost. At a time when reproductive freedom is under attack, we should be doing everything we can to reduce barriers to abortion care here in Pennsylvania.”
The insurance mandate policy is based on California Senate Bill 245, also known as the Reproductive Privacy Act. Golden State legislators introduced that measure in early 2021; Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed it on March 22.
Left-wing lawmakers in many states have churned out new measures to promote abortion in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Democrats from both of Pennsylvania’s legislative chambers held a series of hearings to inform their responses.
So far in Pennsylvania after Roe’s reversal, legislators have proposed an amendment to the state constitution to protect abortion rights, a statute guaranteeing those rights, and a bill to prevent Pennsylvania law-enforcement organizations from cooperating with other states’ investigations of abortion seekers.
Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA), the first American governor to have served as a clinic escort for Planned Parenthood, has also used his executive powers in favor of abortion. While the GOP-run general assembly advances a constitutional amendment to continue allowing the legislative body to restrict abortion, Wolf filed a lawsuit earlier this month to invalidate that amendment before Pennsylvanians can vote on it. And last month the governor signed an executive order affirming that residents of other states may travel to Pennsylvania to undergo abortions.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Pennsylvania Capitol” by Dough4872. CC BY-SA 4.0.
