Democrats for Life of Pennsylvania fully supports the result of Dobbs v. Jackson released by the Supreme Court of the United States today. We have repeatedly called for the overturning in both Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. As Democrats for Life of America stated in its amicus brief, these prior decisions of the court “have contributed both to confusion and partisan political gridlock.” Indeed, the court cuts through this partisan gridlock by allowing the will of the people to be fully exercised today in protecting the dignity of all human life from womb to tomb nationwide.
Regardless of the viewpoints of Democratic party members and elected officials in Pennsylvania, we will not stop promoting the Whole Life message in Pennsylvania. Our members are continually working to convince the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to adopt our message for the good of the body politic through proposed legislation. We believe that it will take a multitude of approaches to fully end the scourge of abortion in the United States, including changing the lassiez-faire and individualistic amoral attitudes, increasing economic support for pregnant women in need, ending the promotion of racism in the abortion industry’s practices of targeting at certain underrepresented communities, and individual outreach to those in dire situations and serious need. To help further these goals, we take this time to call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly to do three concrete things:
- Increase funding for the Pennsylvania Real Alternatives Program. This non-profit, created under the governship of Robert P. Casey Sr. is part of the call to end the culture of abortion in the United States. By stemming the tide of one of the major reasons why women get abortions, we can do our part through financial support to end the scourge of abortion forever.
- Support the passage of House Bill 2252 and Senate Bill 956. Currently, these two bills proposed in each house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly would allow a constitutional amendment that would ensure that there is no right under the Pennsylvania state constitution for funding to an abortion, or to have an abortion. Without this constitutional protection, the existing Pennsylvania ban on abortion funding that has existed since the early 1980s, and is being challenged in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court case Allegheny Reproductive Health Providers v. DHS remains in jeopardy. Please call your elected officials to tell them you Support the passage of both HB2252 and SB956.
- Encourage the existing Pro-Life Democrats in elected office in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to hold steadfast to their beliefs and be vocal about them. Over the last 25 years, we have seen our Democratically-elected officials repudiate their beliefs on the issue of life in an attempt to hold power. Time and time again, Democratic elected officials are too fearful to speak out the truth on the horrors of abortion, the wrongness of Roe v. Wade, and the necessity of protecting all human life. In light of this, we also take this time to respond to Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr.’s statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs.
Despite his views now, Sen. Casey once stated in a 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer article that, with regard to being Pro-Life and overturning Roe v. Wade, “You can’t say you have the position I have and not believe that.” Yet today, he has done just the opposite, 17 years after first being elected to the U.S. Senate, Sen. Casey attempts to call himself pro-life while decrying the overturning of Roe. Sen. Casey, you cannot call yourself Pro-Life and simultaneously oppose the decision the Supreme Court made today in Dobbs.
In contrast, we know from speeches and his dogged advocacy that Governor Robert P. Casey Sr. would be championing the Dobbs decision today as right and just. In a speech given to Catholic University, Gov. Casey stated that:
“Roe vs. Wade is a law we must observe, but never honor. In Hamilton’s phrase, it’s a piece of “parchment,” a musty record bearing raw coercive power and devoid of moral authority. It has done its harm, and will do much more. But those who say we must learn to live with it still don’t get it. Ultimately, Roe cannot survive alongside our enduring, unshakeable sense of justice. It is no more permanent than any other act of human arrogance. It is no more unchangeable that the laws which sent Dred Scott back to his master.”
To Sen. Casey and all pro-life Democratic elected officials, we implore you to remember what put you in office, the legacy that you hold the torch to. The day has come where we no longer have to honor or respect Roe v. Wade. Its power has been vanquished, and we are able to press on for each and every pro-life measure that respects and fulfills the dignity of the human person as they are created by God. At Democrats for Life of Pennsylvania, we will continue to do that with the values that once made us Democrats, even if the party no longer wants our voice or our votes. We will continue to make it heard. Our unshakable sense of justice may end affiliations with the Democratic party, but it will never end our advocacy for support for all human life from womb to tomb in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.