The Pa Catholic Conference and HB 818/SB3

As per a 4/15/13 posting by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, "House Bill 818, the bill that would ensure taxpayers do not fund abortions through the federal health care exchange administered in PA, was voted out of the House Health Committee today by a vote of 15 to 9."  According to the Pa Catholic Conference, members of the House Health Committee voting "YES" included Representative Frank Farry.  Though Scott Petri was reported to be one of the committee members voting "NO," it appears that he did not actually cast a vote.  The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference goes on to say that  "HB 818 now proceeds to the full House for a vote. An identical piece of legislation, Senate Bill 3, was voted out of committee in the Senate last week.  Send a message to your legislators TODAY asking them to vote “yes” on HB 818 and SB 3!" [https://www.votervoice.net/PACC/Campaigns/25554/Respond]


Please note that there are also direct email addresses for representatives from Bucks County:

• Paul Clymer (pclymer@pahousegop.com), 
• Tina Davis (tdavis@pahouse.net), 
• Gene DiGirolamo (gdigirol@pahousegop.com), 
• Frank Farry (Ffarry@pahousegop.com), 
• John Galloway (RepGalloway@pahouse.net), 
• Bernie O'Neill (boneill@pahousegop.com), 
• Scott Petri (spetri@pahousegop.com), 
• Marguerite Quinn (mquinn@pahousegop.com), 
• Steve Santarsiero (ssantarsiero@pahouse.net), and 
• kathy Watson (kwatson@pahousegop.com).

Passage of HB 818/SB3 must be followed with a reconciled bill signed by Governor Corbett.  We would be naive not to recall what transpired (or did not transpire!) in the last legislative session with SB 3 and HB 1977, which were also to prevent funding of at least some "Obamacare" abortions. Though SB 3 passed on 6/7/11 and HB 1977 passed on 12/12/11, they were NEVER reconciled and sent for Governor Corbett's signature. Perhaps the most revealing comments on what transpired came from the ACLU!

• "the bill to mandate an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion, hit a wall when it was voted out of committee, and the resulting controversy may have crippled the chances of the bills to block insurance coverage of abortion in the exchange created by healthcare reform, HB 1977 and SB 3" (6/4/12 ACLU memo to its board of directors).

Whether it was cowardice or disingenuousness on the parts of elected officials, we certainly don't want a repeat of history!  Send our elected officials an email or give them a call (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/#address)!