HARRISBURG, Pa. — After 11 p.m. Thursday night, members of a state Senate committee advanced a constitutional amendment that would declare Pennsylvania residents do not have "any rights relating" to abortion, as well as a provision to require voter IDs when casting a ballot in the state.
Abortion access advocates have been concerned about this amendment, because a governor cannot veto it. Instead, the GOP-controlled legislature would need to approve it in two different legislative sessions — this year and next — to get it onto the May 2023 primary ballot. It had originally been in a separate bill, Senate Bill 956, but a portion of that bill was amended into a different one late Thursday.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, said that this would not ban abortions in the state, and reasserted that the state's Abortion Control Act would remain in place. However, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, whoever becomes the next governor of Pennsylvania will decide whether abortion protections remain.
