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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | July 18, 2023 10:39 AM |
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| From: | Senator Amanda M. Cappelletti and Sen. Judith L. Schwank |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Abortion Protections Package |
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, declaring the U.S. Constitution confers no right to an abortion, has led to total or near total bans on abortion in many states. Nearly one in three women aged 15 to 44 live in states where abortion is banned or mostly banned. Women in these states are being denied urgent, and in some cases lifesaving, medical care.
We will soon be introducing a package of bills to ensure the Commonwealth is not complicit in other states’ efforts to attack bodily autonomy. While we cannot prevent other states from criminalizing abortion, we can protect individuals seeking and providing reproductive health services in the Commonwealth. We can take a stance against the use of our criminal justice system from assisting in those prosecutions.
Former Governor Wolf issued an executive order to protect persons seeking reproductive health care services in Pennsylvania and medical professionals offering those services from discipline in other states. However, legislation is needed to codify these protections and to reach beyond what the Governor can authorize. These bills also protect the privacy of providers and patients and prevent our medical boards and insurance companies from taking adverse action against providers who give out-of-state patients abortions that are legal in the Commonwealth.
Taken together, these measures will ensure that everybody within our borders is protected in their right to access an abortion and the doctors and nurses who provide it are freely able to provide health care. Please join us in standing up for of the health and human rights of all Americans by cosponsoring these bills.
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Document #1
Introduced as SB935
| Description: | This bill will prohibit Pennsylvania courts from cooperating with out-of-state civil and criminal cases involving reproductive healthcare services; prevent officials from other states from arresting individuals in Pennsylvania for an abortion-related crime. | |
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Document #2
Introduced as SB936
| Description: | This bill will prohibit Pennsylvania courts from enforcing another state’s judgment for a case involving the provision of reproductive healthcare services. | |
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Document #3
Introduced as SB937
| Description: | This bill will instruct our healthcare licensure boards not to take adverse action against providers who offer reproductive healthcare services to out-of-state residents. | |
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Document #4
Introduced as SB938
| Description: | This bill will instruct insurance companies not to take adverse action against providers who offer reproductive healthcare services to out-of-state residents. |
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Document #5
Introduced as SB940
| Description: | This bill will protect Pennsylvania's abortion providers’ home addresses from public discovery. | |
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Document #6
Introduced as SB939
| Description: | This bill will protect reproductive health care records from disclosure in Pennsylvania civil actions or criminal investigations. | |
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