Pennsylvania NOW Outraged at Passage and Signing of Pennsylvania's New Anti-Abortion TRAP Law

This afternoon, Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Corbett signed into law SB 732. This is a TRAP law; it is not a law that will protect women's lives. As described by the Center for Reproductive Rights:

"TRAP" (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws single out the medical practices of doctors who provide abortions, and impose on them requirements that are different and more burdensome than those imposed on other medical practices. For example, such regulations [including the law just enacted here in Pennsylvania]… require that abortions be performed in far more sophisticated and expensive facilities than are necessary to ensure the provision of safe procedures. Compliance with these physical plant requirements [will] require extensive renovations or be physically impossible in existing facilities. TRAP laws [including this new Pennsylvania law]… allow unannounced state inspections, even when patients are present. These excessive and unnecessary government regulations – an ever-growing trend among state legislatures – increase the cost and scarcity of abortion services, harming women's health and inhibiting their reproductive choices.  

Make no mistake:  This bill is not about patient safety, it’s about politics.

The people behind these regulations want to shut down high quality reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood.  It’s part of their intent to make all abortion care illegal in this state, no exceptions.  This law will force abortion providers to have the same construction guidelines as outpatient surgery centers. These changes will force safe providers to either close their doors or pass the enormous increase in cost on to patients.

The new law is supported only by organizations opposed to legal abortion. No physicians, nurses, or others in the medical field were consulted in the drafting of the law. In fact, leading health rights groups and doctors overwhelming oppose and have vocally spoken out against this new, politically-motivated law.  These groups include the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR), the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Association of Social Workers, the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and dozens of doctors from across the state.

Pennsylvania NOW, in coordination with the Pennsylvanians For Choice Coalition, will evaluate the law and determine our next steps in opposing this law so at to help ensure that women across the state have access to locally available, safe, and legal abortion and reproductive health services despite this horrendous TRAP law.

Once Again: Call Governor Corbett and Tell Him to VETO SB 732.

The PA Senate just concurred with the House on Senate Bill 732.  The vote was 32 yeas and 18 nays.  That's not enough yea votes to override a veto by Governor Corbett. 

As stated in our previous post earlier today, this is the bill that could shut down ALL 22 stand-alone abortion clinics here in Pennsylvania. 

Senate Bill 732 will force abortion providers to have the same construction guidelines as outpatient surgery centers. These changes have nothing to do with the safety of women and will force safe providers to either close their doors or pass the enormous increase in cost on to patients. This will cause a public health crisis in Pennsylvania.

Governor Corbett is our last chance to protect women's lives from back-alley, unsafe abortions.  If he vetos this bill, then it goes back to both houses for a veto override vote.  There were enough NO votes in the PA Senate to stop this bill from becoming law. 

So... 

Please call Mr. Corbett at 717-787-2500 and give him the following message: First tell him your name and that you are a constituent. Then say (in your own words) that you:

 Appreciate his moderate approach to abortion regulation thus far, but you are very concerned with Senate Bill 732 and the impact it will have on access to safe and legal abortion in Pennsylvania. Ask him to oppose  and VETO SB 732 and any effort to shut down abortion providers in the state.

Urgent - Tell Governor Corbett to VETO SB 732

Last night, the PA House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed SB 732. This is the bill that could shut down ALL 22 stand-alone abortion clinics here in Pennsylvania. It now goes back to the Senate for concurrence.  The Senate Rules Committee has scheduled a full floor vote for this afternoon, Wednesday December 14.  This bill threatening women's lives could be on Governor Corbett's desk by tonight! 

Please call the Governor TODAY and urge him to veto SB 732, and remind him that advocates for victims of domestic violence and rape vehemently oppose the bill as being devastating and dangerous for victims who require safe, legal health services. We do not ask this of you in vain; we know that the Governor pays attention to Pennsylvania voters and that these calls – both in quantity and quality – get through to him.

If you make one call this year to an elected official, let this be the call you make.

Call Governor Tom Corbett TODAY at 717-787-2500. It may take a few tries to get through as the lines are busy.

 

Your Message (in your own words): I’m calling to urge Governor Corbett to stop Senate Bill 732 from becoming law. Both the domestic violence and rape crisis organizations in Pennsylvania oppose Senate Bill 732 as dangerous and unnecessary. There is not a single medical group in support. On behalf of the victims, PLEASE stop this political attack on access to safe medical care.

Thank you.

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! Rally for Women's Lives on September 27

In the first six months of 2011, Pennsylvania lawmakers spent 30% of their days at the Capitol working to restrict access to safe, legal abortion.

Following the lead of Kansas — the most anti-choice state in the nation — Pennsylvania lawmakers chose to make the very first vote of the session about an unnecessary, dangerous Senate abortion bill. As House members prepared to depart for their summer vacations at the end of June, a bill aimed at closing health centers was poised for a vote up until the very last minute. When they return in September (on September 27), you can bet they’ll be right at it again.


Two bills, in particular, threaten a woman's right to choose to have an abortion - one under the guise of patient safety and the other is a blatant attempt to chip away at a well-established legal right.

Senate Bill 732 (SB 732)

SB 732 is a TRAP (Targeted Regulations on Abortion Providers) law that 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 door.  There are 22 stand-alone clinics in Pennsylvania; all of these clinics currently do not meet the onerous regulations included in this legislation; and
• Women need safe, reputable providers to trust when seeking an abortion.

Senate Bill 3 (SB 3)

SB 3 would ban insurance companies participating in the yet-to-be established state health insurance exchange from offering abortion coverage.

• Currently, an estimated 80% of insurance plans provide abortion coverage. If SB3 passes, many women will lose the coverage they currently have; and
• Without coverage for abortion services, women will be forced to seek care from non-reputable providers.

Don’t miss this important rally to help protect women’s reproductive lives.  The rally is scheduled from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Tuesday, September 27 in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg; lobbying your legislators to oppose these bills will occur both before and after the rally. The keynote speaker at the rally, FYI will be Ellie Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, and former President of both National NOW and Pennsylvania NOW.  Details and sign-up (for both lunch and buses) are on the website at http://www.wevehadenoughpa.org (information) and http://www.wevehadenoughpa.org/rally.html (registration page).  

(Note, due to security checks at the Capitol, you might want to arrive by 11 am to get through the metal detectors before the rally starts).

There are buses coming from Allentown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Plymouth Meeting that you can sign up for at http://www.wevehadenoughpa.org/rally.html.   You can also reserve lunch on this page. Information on bus departure and return times as well as locations is available at http://www.wevehadenoughpa.org/bus-departurereturn-information.html. 

If you are interested in taking the van from the State College area, please contact Joanne Tosti-Vasey, President of Pennsylvania NOW directly at panow@panow.org or at 814-280-8571 to reserve a free seat.

Petition Opposing SB 732: Please Read and Sign

Tell the PA General Assembly & Corbett to vote NO on SB 732.This bill will shut down the free-standing abortion clinics in PA.  The final vote in the Senate is expected as soon as Monday June 13.

Here's what the petition says:

To:  Governor Corbett and the Legislative Assembly of Pennsylvania

We are writing to ask you to vote NO on Senate Bill 732, a bill that requires freestanding abortion clinics that do abortion procedures over 9 weeks gestation to comply with ambulatory surgical facility regulations (“ASF regulations”). Over 10,000 women had abortions over 9 weeks in Pennsylvania in 2009, and this bill would reduce access to services for thousands of women in Pennsylvania each year, and especially impact the poor and under-served.

ASF regulations require building changes that would force all of Pennsylvania’s freestanding facilities to move and rebuild in order to continue providing abortion care to women over 9 weeks. This could cost freestanding clinics millions of dollars and could take years to comply. None of these building changes would improve the health and safety of women receiving the services – instead, it will force safe providers to discontinue offering the service, or force them to close altogether as clinics may not be able to sustain themselves by limiting their services.

95% of abortions in Pennsylvania are performed in freestanding clinics. Abortion care in hospitals costs thousands of dollars – over 10 times the cost in clinics. Women will not be able to afford abortion care in Pennsylvania if these regulations take effect.

Pennsylvania’s focus should be on enforcing existing regulations, not forcing safe abortion providers to make building changes that will put them out of business, forcing women to seek cheaper services from illegal providers, providers who are out of state where Pennsylvania cannot regulate, or worse, lead women to feel they have no choice but to attempt to self-abort. SB 732 will harm women more than it will help!

The anti-abortion movement has made it very clear that one item on their legislative agenda is to push legislation that requires abortion clinics to abide by more restrictive facility regulations in states across the nation. This movement does not care about the health of women, they only care about making abortion illegal.

Please side with public opinion, not the vocal anti-abortion minority, and vote NO on Senate Bill 732!

You must be a resident of Pennsylvania in order to sign this petition.  Please do so now at http://www.petitiononline.com/69117322/petition.html.  And then spread the word.

Thank you.

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.

Call Your Senator NOW - Vote NO on the Mensch Amendment

Please call your Senator RIGHT NOW.  The Pennsylvania Senate is debating and voting TODAY on Senator Mensch's amendment to SB 732.

SB 732 that would 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.

You can find your Senator's contact information at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/


Please call immediately and tell your Senator the following:

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.

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!