A pair of Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to pass a so-called shield law that would offer legal protections for out-of-state women seeking abortions in the Commonwealth and for the doctors who perform the procedure.
“While we cannot prevent other states from criminalizing abortion, we can protect individuals seeking and providing reproductive health services in the Commonwealth,” Sens. Amanda Cappelletti, of Montgomery County, and Judith Schwank, of Berks County, wrote in a memo June 5. “We can take a stance against the use of our criminal justice system from assisting in those prosecutions.”
The Commonwealth already has safeguards for providers and patients under an executive order signed by former Gov. Tom Wolf shortly after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Under that order, Commonwealth officials will not cooperate with another state in arresting or prosecuting women who are seeking to terminate their pregnancies or the medical provider offering the abortion.
Cappelletti and Schwank praised these measures but said legislators must cement the provisions in state law and take additional steps to defend doctors against any insurance consequences for offering abortions that are allowable in the commonwealth.
They’re also proposing to protect the home addresses of abortion providers and keep reproductive health care records from disclosure in criminal investigations or court cases.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, 13 states — including Pennsylvania’s neighbor, West Virginia — have implemented wholesale bans on the procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights advocacy organization. Another seven have outlawed abortion at 18 weeks’ gestation.
Pennsylvania House members considered a similar package of bills during the last legislative session. The House passed the one that would codify shield protections, but the measure stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
