Action Alert: TRAP Bill Vote Expected TODAY!

The PA House is expected to vote on SB 732 TODAY! This is Pennsylvania's Targeted Regulations on Abortion Providers (TRAP) bill that will likely shut down many of the 22 stand-alone abortion / reproductive health clinics in Pennsylvania.

We've Had Enough!

Please call your representative this morning and tell him/her to vote NO on SB 732. You can locate your legislator’s contact info at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/.

SB 732 passed out of the House Health Committee in the early summer after being amended to look exactly like HB 574 which had earlier passed the House. All of the Senate language from the original bill was stripped out, and the content of HB 574 was substituted. Therefore, SB 732 now applies to all surgical abortion procedures, even very early ones. It is not limited to abortions after nine weeks. SB 732/HB 574 would regulate Pennsylvania’s freestanding abortion providers as ambulatory surgical facilities (ASF), subject to both the ambulatory surgical facility regulations and the ambulatory gynecological surgery in hospitals and clinics regulations. Instead of preventing another atrocity like the Gosnell “house of horrors,”this bill will hurt women.

Senate Bill 732 (SB 732)

SB 732 would force free-standing abortion providers to be regulated as Ambulatory Surgical Facilities (ASF) which require burdensome and unnecessary structural and staffing changes.

SB 732 could cause a public health crisis by making abortion care in Pennsylvania inaccessible.

· ASF regulations could cause the cost of an abortion to rise significantly and could force providers to close their doors.

· Women need safe, reputable providers to trust when seeking an abortion.

More information about HB 574 and SB 732:

· These bills will increase the financial hurdles to abortion care for patients. Women will not be able to afford safe abortion care and may seek out a substandard illegal provider or be forced to delay their abortions while they try to raise money to pay for higher-cost procedures. The increased costs of complying with these bills will be passed along to patients. Many patients struggle to pay $350 for an early abortion procedure. With increased regulation and increased fees, the cost may double and therefore become inaccessible to many women.

· Poor women and rural women will have even less access to safe abortion care. Only 22% of PA counties have an abortion provider. The enactment of either bill would force some of these providers to close. Women who need abortions will then leave the state where Pennsylvania can no longer regulate their safety.

· Abortion providers are already well-regulated. Current law provides for required equipment and medical supplies, hospital transfer agreements for emergency services, equipment required for anesthesia, clinical staff licensing requirements, mandatory counseling and informed consent requirements, laboratory and pathology requirements, required blood tests specific to abortion care, extensive reporting requirements for each abortion, parental consent requirements, abortion facility requirements, and complications reporting. Women don’t need more regulations. They need accessible care and better enforcement of existing regulations.

More detail and talking points can be found in the pdf file from Pennsylvanians for Choice (PFC)which is located at our We've Had Enough website. PFC, fyi, is the statewide reproductive rights coalition working to ensure full reproductive justice and rights for women here in Pennsylvania.

Thanks for making the call. Again here’s the link to find your legislator’s contact info - http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/. Make that call today and tell your Representative to vote NO on SB 732.

We've Had Enough!

Across the country, women’s reproductive rights are being attacked. In some cases it’s shouting and harassment when a woman seeks treatment at a women’s health clinic for either an abortion or for other reproductive health services. In other instances, it’s legislative attacks that attempt to deny a woman access to all forms of reproductive health services, including screenings, contraception, and abortion services.
In some states and at the Federal level, this has taken the form of funding restrictions on Planned Parenthood. The federal effort fortunately failed in the US Senate. Some states, including Indiana, New Hampshire, and Texas, have unfortunately restricted this funding.

Other states, including Pennsylvania, have attacked women’s reproductive health by passing TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider) laws which require extensive renovations that may be physically impossible in existing facilities and which are different and more burdensome than for other medical facilities; they also often include unannounced inspections. SB 732 has passed the PA Senate and the House Health Committee. A full House vote is expected in September or early October. This bill, if and when it becomes law (the Governor has said he will sign it) will shut down the 22 free-standing abortion clinics throughout PA. This amendment requires all free-standing abortion clinics to meet the standards for the Ambulatory Surgical Centers in addition (and in some cases, in contradiction) to the Abortion Control Act, the Ambulatory Gynaecological Surgery Facility Regulations, and the MCARE Act which they already have to follow. Take a moment and go to the Pennsylvania NOW blog to compare what the current abortion clinic regulations are and what this TRAP law would do.

Other legislative attacks occurring across the country—e.g.,in Tennessee and Missouri as well as here in Pennsylvania—are attempting to pass “Stupak on Steroids” bills that will, starting in 2014, prohibit women who purchase health insurance through the new federal health insurance exchanges, from purchasing, WITH THEIR OWN MONEY, coverage for abortion services and, depending on how it is interpreted, possibly even the purchase of contraceptives. Specifically Senate Bill 3 will deny insurance plans participating in the insurance exchange from covering abortion services except in the cases where the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, or where the life of the woman is in danger. Note that this legislation is not necessary. The question of whether abortion will be covered in federally subsidized insurance exchanges has already been settled. In response to concerns raised by US Senator Ben Nelson, a staunch opponent of abortion, women who want to use their own money to purchase a health insurance plan that covers abortion services must send a separate payment so the funding for abortion coverage is completely separate and paid entirely by the individual.

And against the backdrop of this wave of anti-abortion legislative assaults previously mentioned, Operation Rescue/Operation Save America are targeting abortion clinics in Orlando, FL and Germanantown, MD, in an attempt to shut these clinics down via efforts to block clinic entrances and harassment of women attempting to receive treatment at abortion facilities in these two cities. In Orlando, Operation Rescue/Operation Save America attempted, but failed to shut down six clinics during the week of July 22. In Germantown, Operation Rescue has announced plans for a “Summer of Mercy 2.0″ targeting the brave and outspoken Dr. LeRoy Carhart in Germantown, MD, July 31-August 7. Operation Rescue is the same organization that hounded Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, KS, for years (until he was assassinated by one of their associates in May ’09). Their original “Summer of Mercy” in 1991 shut down access to the Dr. Tiller’s clinic for six weeks and resulted in 3,400 arrests, they are invoking this alarming history again in their “Summer of Mercy 2.0” event.

WE’VE HAD ENOUGH!

You can show your support for women seeking abortion services by helping out in Germantown this week. Between July 31 and August 7, activists will be needed from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. outside of Dr. Carhart’s clinic, located at 13233 Executive Park Drive in Germantown, Maryland. These shifts will kick off with the Summer Celebration of Choice Kick-Off Walk on Sunday, July 31 and continue through the evening of Sunday, August 7. To sign up for a shift, please go to www.summerofchoice.com or contact NOW Field Organizer Anita Lederer at fieldorg@now.org.

You can also speak out against the legislation winding its way through the Pennsylvania General Assembly by participating in Pennsylvanian’s for Choice “We’ve Had Enough” rally on September 27 in Harrisburg in the Capital Rotunda. Join us in telling the PA Legislature to STOP the attacks on women’s health in Pennsylvania! You can sign up at http://www.wevehadenoughpa.org/take-action.html to join in our effort to stop this legislation. Help us fight these dangerous bills and join us in declaring that…

WE’VE HAD ENOUGH!

PA Senate Votes Yes on Mensch Amendment and Attacks Women's Health Care

The Pennsylvania Senate just debated and passed the Mensch Amendment to SB 732.  Right after the vote, the Senate went into recess until 1 PM on Monday, June 13.  We expect the vote on the full bill early next week; it will then be sent to the House.

This amended bill, if and when it becomes law (the Governor has said he will sign it) will shut down the 22 free-standing abortion clinics throughout PA.  This amendment requires all free-standing abortion clinics to meet the standards for the Ambulatory Surgical Centers in addition (and in some cases, in contradiction) to the Abortion Control Act, the Ambulatory Gynaecological Surgery Facility Regulations, and the MCARE Act which they already have to follow.  You can review these regulations below (Thanks to the Women's Law Project for gathering this information):

How Abortions Are Currently Regulated in PA




The votes on the Mensch Amendment were as follows.  Aye votes are votes that will shut down the clinics and lead to more back-alley abortions.  No votes were votes in support of women's health.  As with SB 3, Senator Earll (R) was not present and did not vote.

AYE (Anti-Choice Votes)

Y ALLOWAY (R)

Y ARGALL (R)

Y BAKER (R)

Y BLAKE (D)

Y BROWNE (R)

Y BRUBAKER (R)

Y BROWNE (R)

Y CORMAN (R) 

Y EICHELBERGER (R)

Y ERICKSON (R)

Y FOLMER (R)

Y GORDNER (R)

Y GREENLEAF (R)

Y KASUNIC (D)

Y MENSCH (R)

Y ORIE (R)

Y PICCOLA (R)

Y PILEGGI (R)

Y PIPPY (R)

Y RAFFERTY (R)

Y ROBBINS (R)

Y SCARNATI (R)

Y SMUCKER (R)

Y SOLOBAY (D)

Y TOMLINSON

Y VOGEL (R)

Y WARD (R)

Y WAUGH (R)

Y WHITE DONALD (R)

Y WOZNIAK (D)

Y YAW (R)

Y YUDICHAK (D)

NO ( Pro-Choice Votes

N BOSCOLA (D)

N BREWSTER (D)

N COSTA (D)

N DINNIMAN (D)

N FARNESE (D)

N FERLO (D)

N FONTANA (D)

N HUGHES (D)

N KITCHEN (D)

N LEACH (D)

N MCILHINNEY (R)

N SCHWANK (D)

N STACK (D)

N TARTAGLIONE (D)

N VANCE (R)

N WASHINGTON (D)

N WHITE MARY JO (R)

N WILLIAMS (D)

 

 

This is the wrong response to what allegedly happened at Gosnell’s clinic in Philadelphia. Instead of preventing another Gosnell “house of horrors,” this bill will hurt women.

• It will not improve patient safety;
• It will force safe providers to close;
• It will increase the cost of an abortion by as much as $1,000;
• It will force women to seek care in other states or from marginal or illegal practitioners;
• It will create two overlapping sets of regulations that are in conflict with each other and in violation of the Abortion Control Act; and
• It will have the harshest impact on the poor and rural women of Pennsylvania.

It’s now time for you to call, write, and/or email your Pennsylvania State Senator.  Contact information for your legislator can be found here.  Tell your legislator that this bill is wrong, will put more women in danger, and will likely shut down the safe providers.  

VOTE NO on SB 732.

Update on Senate Bills 3 and 732 and the Mensch Amendment to SB 732

SB 3

The Pennsylvania Senate passed SB 3 this afternoon at about 4 pm by a vote of 37-12. This is the bill that denies insurance coverage for abortions in the new health care exchanges. This means that any person that uses the exchange for their health insurance can not purchase this coverage with their own money.It now goes to the PA House of Representatives. You can review our previous blogs on this bill here, here, here, and here. 

The 12 Senators who supported women's access to reproductive health care were:

N COSTA

N DINNIMAN

N FARNESE

N FERLO

N FONTANA

N HUGHES

N KITCHEN

N LEACH

N SCHWANK

N TARTAGLIONE

N WASHINGTON

N WILLIAMS

 

Please contact these Senators and thank them for their support.

 

The 37 Senators who voted for this egregious bill were:

Y ALLOWAY

Y ARGALL

Y BAKER

Y BLAKE

Y BOSCOLA

Y BREWSTER

Y BROWNE

Y BRUBAKER

Y CORMAN

Y EICHELBERGER

Y ERICKSON

Y FOLMER

Y GORDNER

Y GREENLEAF

Y KASUNIC

Y MCILHINNEY

Y MENSCH

Y ORIE

Y PICCOLA

Y PILEGGI

Y PIPPY

Y RAFFERTY

Y ROBBINS

Y SCARNATI

Y SMUCKER

Y SOLOBAY

Y STACK

Y TOMLINSON

Y VANCE

Y VOGEL

Y WARD

Y WAUGH

Y WHITE DONALD

Y WHITE MARY JO

Y WOZNIAK

Y YAW

Y YUDICHAK

 

Please contact these Senators to register your displeasure at their vote.

 

Senator Earll was not present and did not vote.  Ask her why she was unavailable for this vote. 

 

 

Senate Bill 732 and the Mensch Amendment
 
Meanwhile, the Senate decided to hold off on debate on both SB 732 and Senator Mensch's amendment. It is likely to return tomorrow or Thursday for debate and vote.  So please keep the calls coming. You still have time to call your Senator and tell him/her to vote NO on both the amendment and the overall bill. For talking points see our previous blog blogs here and here.  Mensch's amendment is based on House Bill 574 which requires free-standing abortion clinics to meet the standards for the Ambulatory Surgical Centers in addition (and in some cases, in contradiction) to the Abortion Control Act, the Ambulatory Gynecolgoical Surgery Facility Regulations, and the MCARE Act.  You should therefore check out our earlier blog on HB 574.

Action Alert: Two Anti-Choice Bills Up for Vote on Monday May 23 in PA Senate

We have just been advised that the Pennsylvania Senate is scheduled to vote on two abortion-related measures on MONDAY AFTERNOON, MAY 23rd.
The first bill is SB 3 which would ban abortion coverage in any health care plan in the new health care exchanges created with the new Federal health care law. The second bill is SB 732. It would license abortion providers, create a consumer complaint system, and provide for unannounced Department of Health inspections prior to licensing and in response to any reported serious events.
Please contact your state Senator and tell him/her to vote NO on both SB 3 and SB 732. The message for each bill is slightly different. You can find your Senator's contact information at http://bit.ly/FindPaLeg. See below for details.

Messages to Give to Your Senator on SB 3

SB 3: This bill would ban abortion coverage in the insurance exchange to be set up by 2014 as part of health care reform, even if the insured pays for a separate policy with her own money. You can review our previous blogs on this bill here, here, and here. There are two sets of messages to tell your Senator:

MESSAGE 1:

SUPPORT the following amendments to Senate Bill 3

1. Complying with Federal Health Care Law Amendment:

Insurance coverage for abortion may be purchased through the health insurance exchange using private funds pursuant to the funding and segregation rules set forth in Section 1303 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

2. Insurance Choice Amendment:

An insurance plan shall neither be required to provide nor prohibited from providing insurance coverage for abortion services.

3. Health Exception Amendment:

In cases in which the woman became pregnant through an act of rape or incest, or where, in the good faith judgment of the physician, an abortion is medically necessary for reasons other than rape or incest.

Message 2:

VOTE NO on SB 3; Women need insurance coverage of abortions. Senate Bill 3 would:

• Prohibit any insurance company that contracts with the health care exchange from providing coverage for abortion services

• Prohibit this coverage except in cases of death or rape or incest that has been personally reported

• Prohibit a woman from using her own private money to purchase abortion coverage, though this separation is mandated by the Nelson amendment to the federal health care reform law – the Affordable Care Act.

Messages to Give to Your Senator on SB 732

SB 732: This bill would license abortion providers, create a consumer complaint system, and provide for unannounced Department of Health inspections prior to licensing and in response to any reported serious events. We have major concerns about the harassment potential SB 732 presents. It may be made even worse if Senator Mensch gets his way and  amends the bill to require abortion providers upgrade to ambulatory surgical facility standards; this amendment, just like HB 574, if passed, will likely cause most of our 20 free-standing clinics to close, curtail the services they provide, and/or increase the cost of a procedure beyond many women's reach.

MESSAGE 1:

VOTE NO on Mensch Amendment TO SB 732.

MESSAGE 2:

VOTE No on SB 732 due to its potential to harass clinics and invade women's right to privacy.

And finally, here is the overall message for both SB 3 and SB 732

Pennsylvania law should support the provision of safe, legal abortion and not stigmatize the procedure and push it into the hands of illegal, dangerous practitioners who threaten and endanger women’s lives and health. The situation in the Gosnell clinic happened because the PA Department of Health was not enforcing existing regulations. If we want to avoid more “clinics of horror” like the one in Philadelphia, then we need to urge our senators not to support these unreasonable proposals that will in turn hurt women rather than help them.

Allow women to continue their full reproductive health care coverage (NO on SB 3) and oppose onerous additional regulations that could send women to unsafe and unregulated or out-of-state providers (NO on SB 732).

HOUSE BILL 574: The WRONG Response for Abortion Services Care

We have been told that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives will likely start debate and possibly vote on the passage of House Bill 574 on Monday, May 9, 2011. This bill, if passed would regulate Pennsylvania’s freestanding abortion providers as ambulatory surgical facilities (ASF) in addition to regulating these clinics under Pennsylvania’s current Abortion Control Act.

As we stated in the blog on this bill a month ago, this is the wrong response to what allegedly happened at Gosnell’s clinic in Philadelphia. Instead of preventing another Gosnell “house of horrors,” this bill will hurt women.

·         It will not improve patient safety;

·         It will force safe providers to close;

·         It will increase the cost of an abortion by as much as $1,000;

·         It will force women to seek care in other states or from marginal or illegal practitioners;

·         It will create two overlapping sets of regulations that are in conflict with each other and in violation of the Abortion Control Act; and

·         It will have the harshest impact on the poor and rural women of Pennsylvania.

It’s now time for you to call, write, and/or email your Pennsylvania State Representative.  Contact information for your legislator can be found here.  Tell your legislator that this bill is wrong, will put more women in danger, and will likely shut down the safe providers.

And here are the talking points from Pennsylvanians for Choice you can use when you make this contact. FYI, Pennsylvanians for Choice is a coalition of organizations supporting full reproductive rights for women in Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania NOW is part of this coalition.

HOUSE BILL 574: THE WRONG RESPONSE

The purpose of abortion regulation should be to make women safe, not to close safe providers. House Bill 574 would regulate Pennsylvania’s freestanding abortion providers as ambulatory surgical facilities (ASF), subject to both the ambulatory surgical facility regulations and the ambulatory gynecological surgery in hospitals and clinics regulations. Abortion is the only medical procedure with its own set of burdensome state regulations. Instead of improving patient care, HB574 will make it difficult or impossible for good safe providers to continue to provide care – opening the door for a disastrous public health crisis.
Women need accessible care and better enforcement of existing regulations, not additional, unnecessary regulations. HB 574 will force providers to alter their facilities and staffing in ways that will make their delivery of services expensive or impossible. Women in Pennsylvania need better access to affordable, high quality health care, not politically-motivated barriers.
If HB 574 is enacted,

Ø  Abortion providers would be required to increase the size of their procedure rooms by 3 or 4 times their current size. 

Ø  Providers would be required to employ a full-time registered nurse (RN) even when abortion procedures are not being performed.  Under current law, an RN or licensed practical nurse (LPN) must be on duty when abortions are performed.  HB 574 requires the presence of an RN anytime patients are present, requiring clinics to employ an additional staff position full-time on days when the clinic provides routine gynecological exams and family planning services. 

These are just two of multiple ways that HB 574 would create difficulties in delivery of services to patients.  The costs of HB 574 for a single health center would be hundreds of thousands of dollars, with no proven benefit to patients.

HB 574 will lead to more financial hurdles to abortion care for patients.  The increased costs of complying with HB 574 will likely result in higher fees for abortion services.  Some women who are not able to afford safe abortion care seek out substandard providers or are forced to delay their abortions, thereby increasing medical risk.  This legislation may double current medical fees and therefore make safe abortion care inaccessible to many women.

Rural and low-income women will have even less access to safe abortion care.  Only 22% of PA counties have an abortion provider. The enactment of HB 574 would force some of these providers to close. Women who need abortions will then leave the state where Pennsylvania can no longer regulate their safety.

Abortion facilities in Pennsylvania are currently subject to extensive regulations.   Current law provides for required equipment and medical supplies, hospital transfer agreements for emergency services, equipment required for anesthesia, clinical staff licensing requirements, mandatory counseling and informed consent requirements, laboratory and pathology requirements, required blood tests specific to abortion care, extensive reporting requirements for each abortion, parental consent requirements, abortion facility requirements, and complications reporting.  Safe, high-quality abortion care currently exists in Pennsylvania at freestanding facilities that abide by all current regulations. These facilities were praised in the Gosnell grand jury report for their excellent medical care and safety protocols and stated to be “more stringent and more protective of women's safety than the abortion regulations in Pennsylvania." Regulations that genuinely protect the health and safety of patients are critical, however politically motivated barriers to service put more women at risk.

Please take action Today!  Call, write, fax, and email your legislator. Tell your Representative that this bill is wrong, that it will put more women's lives in danger, and that it will likely shut down the safe providers. Thank you!