Pennsylvania Legislative Alert--SB 3 Introduced

From Maria Vitale Gallagher,Legislative Director

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

 

Senate Bill 3, sponsored by state Senator Don White, has now been introduced in the PA Senate.  This bill would ensure that Pennsylvania opts out of abortion funding under the new federal health care law, which is known as Obamacare.  Twenty-five pro-life Senators have already signed on as co-sponsors to this critical piece of legislation.

You will find the names of the co-sponsors listed below.  If your local state Senator is listed as the sponsor or as co-sponsor, please do the following:

1.    Call his/her office with this message:  Thank you for co-sponsoring Senate Bill 3.  I do not want public money to be spent on abortion in Pennsylvania.

2.     Email his/her office a thank you note.  You should find a contact form for emailing on the Senator’s website under the Contact link.

3.     Mail a thank you note to the Senator’s Harrisburg office in support of Senate Bill 3.  (Possible talking points for your letter are listed below.)

If you do not know the name of your state Senator, or you don’t have the contact number, address, and website, go to the website below and type in your address.  A window will pop up with contact information for your state Senator.

 find your legislator here

Please share this urgent legislative alert with your pro-life friends and family members in Pennsylvania.

Without this critical legislation, Pennsylvanians will be forced to pay for abortions.  We cannot let this happen!

Sponsor:  Sen. WHITE

Co-sponsors:  SCARNATI, YUDICHAK, KASUNIC, VULAKOVICH, TOMLINSON, ARGALL, ROBBINS, MENSCH, WARD, EICHELBERGER, RAFFERTY, GORDNER, VOGEL, ALLOWAY, BROWNE, YAW, SOLOBAY, ERICKSON, FOLMER, HUTCHINSON, WAUGH, SMUCKER, BRUBAKER, CORMAN AND WOZNIAK

Background:

The Obama health care law, starting in 2014, will allow health insurance plans offering abortion coverage to participate in a health insurance exchange and to  receive federal subsidies unless a state legislature opts out of permitting plans that cover abortion within the exchange operating in that state.  In fact, specific language in the federal health care law authorizes states to ban  abortion in the exchanges.

Talking Points:

Without this legislation, federal dollars will flow to subsidized plans that cover abortion in our state.  The Obama health care law specifically authorizes states to ban use of federal dollars to cover abortions within an exchange operated in the state by declaring: "A State may elect to prohibit abortion coverage in qualified health plans offered through an Exchange in such State if such State enacts a law to provide for such prohibition."

National polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose public funding of abortion.  Regardless of their individual positions on the issue of abortion, most Americans agree that abortions should not be paid for with public funds.

 Link to poll here

To ensure that Pennsylvania funds are not used to pay for abortions under the Obama health care law, opt-out legislation must be passed by the PA House and PA Senate and signed by the Governor, whether the state runs the health insurance exchange or the federal government does so.

 For a detailed explanation of the federal subsidies for abortion present in the Obama health care law—demonstrating why opt-out legislation is needed—please see link below.

 link to affidavit here