In 2011, Margo Davidson, a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House, made the courageous decision to vote ‘yes’ to the passage of a bill that would hold abortion clinics to the same standards as other surgical facilities throughout the state. This year, in her campaign for reelection, she is facing the consequences for her bravery as PA’s Planned Parenthood announced their endorsement of her primary challenger, Bill Smith.
Davidson, overcome with emotion, defended her decision to support SB 732 on the House floor in 2011 and explained that her cousin, Semika Shaw, was one of the victims of Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors.”
“I honor her memory by voting for this bill,” Davidson stated fighting back tears. “So women will no longer walk into a licensed health-care facility and be butchered as she was.”
Planned Parenthood’s endorsement of Davidson’s opponent has left many questioning whether “women’s rights” is really what the organization stands for. If Planned Parenthood’s goal is to provide “high quality and affordable health-care”, there is no reason to oppose a measure that would ensure the safety of women across the state.
Brandon McGinley, of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, in his article for the Federalist, emphatically states, “The clinic regulation bills that have swept the country in the wake of Gosnell’s atrocities merely ask that abortion clinics are run like what they claim to be: legitimate medical facilities. If Planned Parenthood were running itself like a legitimate medical provider, then there would be nothing… to object.”
Pennsylvania Family Institute’s President Michael Geer was quoted in a Daily Caller article exposing what he believes to be Planned Parenthood’s true interests: “power and profits, not women’s health.”
Although Davidson was endorsed by Planned Parenthood in her 2010 election campaign, she has stated that she has “pro-life leanings.” Life News reports that Davidson stated that the pro-choice community believes “the institution of abortion is more important than the individual lives.”