The Delaware County Daily Times
July 14, 2016
To the Times:
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down some of the country’s most restrictive anti-abortion measures, was a win in the fight to protect women’s rights. While it was a victory for women across our nation, right now women here in Pennsylvania are fighting against an extreme attack that will chip away at a woman’s constitutional right to reproductive health care.
When House Republican lawmakers in our state voted to support one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country, I was outraged. HB 1948 places women’s health care options in jeopardy. As someone who has been working tirelessly in the state House to fight these extreme efforts, I’m proud that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has spoken out against this dangerous bill. Hillary knows that we must not turn back the clocks on the progress we’ve made on women’s rights in our country.
Earlier this year, my colleagues and I heard from several young, brave women who made the agonizing and heartbreaking decision to end their pregnancies when an ultrasound showed that the expected addition to their family had severe fetal anomalies that would cause incredible pain and suffering. If HB 1948 is signed into law, these women would have had their reproductive health options stolen from them just as they were facing a tragic situation. We cannot allow politicians to drag this country back to a 1948 philosophy of women’s rights, when women were forced to seek dangerous unlicensed procedures in order to get access to the reproductive health care they needed.
It is simply another example of extreme Republican politicians playing politics with women’s health. The assault on women’s access to the full range of reproductive health services doesn’t stop here in Pennsylvania.
On the national level, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has stated he wants to defund Planned Parenthood and punish women for seeking abortions. Women in Pennsylvania shouldn’t be punished for exercising their fundamental right. Trump’s policies would have a devastating impact on women’s health.
We need a president in the Oval Office who will protect a woman’s access to her own reproductive health choices. This election cannot be more important. The choice is clear on which candidate will defend the constitutional protections afforded to women in this country including safe and legal abortion.
The choice is Hillary Clinton, a champion for women.
I know without a doubt that she will fight back against these shameless attacks on women’s health and work to improve and expand – not limit – our access to health care services.
Every woman in Delaware County and all of Pennsylvania – and across our nation – deserves to make her own personal medical decisions and have access to quality health services when and where she needs them. Together, we must continue to urge the Pennsylvania Senate to take a stand against this bill and ensure this bill does not become law.
Attacks on women’s health must come to an end and I cannot stand by in silence while the assault on women’s rights continues.
We cannot go backwards. We must remain vigilant and keep up the fight for future generations of women.
State Rep. Leanne Krueger-Braneky, D-161, Swarthmore