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The decision to allow states to regulate abortion access won’t immediately affect availability in Pennsylvania, but has already become a campaign issue.
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Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion nationwide, advocates in Pennsylvania began to plan their efforts to defend or change the state’s laws.
Some noted that there are already efforts in the legislature to change the landscape here, adding that actions in neighboring states could have effects on accessibility of the procedure in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.
Sue Frietsche, founder and director of the Western Pennsylvania Office of the Women’s Law Project, urged Pennsylvanians to encourage their state legislators to vote against Senate Bill 956, which would eliminate state constitutional rights to abortion services.
“The people of Pennsylvania lost their federal abortion rights today, but we did not lose our power over tomorrow. Don’t become disenfranchised, don’t give up and don’t stop being an activist,” Frietsche said in a press conference held via Zoom.
On the other side of the issue, Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said in a press release that the church would “continue to support and encourage legislation that protects unborn children.”
He added that the diocese offers medical and social assistance through Catholic Charities and works with other organizations to provide childcare and other basic needs.
“It is time for a healthier national conversation about pregnancy and parenting, one that recognizes the real difficulties and creates ways to support pregnant women and to welcome children,” Zubik added.
Advocates for abortion rights said they would promptly take to the streets.
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania said they planned a protest from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. tonight at the City-County Building, Downtown. At 6 p.m., the Abortion Defense Committee will hold a protest at the same location, co-organized by the Black Anarchist Community Council, Justice for Jim Rogers, the Black Liberation Autonomous Collective of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Food not Bombs and the Revolutionary Women’s Study Group.
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