Senate Committee Passes HB1948, One Step Closer to Ending Late-Term Abortion

Jul 11, 2016 | 3 comments

The State Senate Judiciary Committee, by a 9-5 vote, passed HB1948 – legislation that would end late-term and dismemberment abortions in Pennsylvania. HB1948 may now be brought up for a vote by the full State Senate (please contact your Senator and ask for their support of HB1948).

If your Senator is part of this committee and voted YES on HB1948, please call/email to thank them.

Don’t know who your State Senator is? Use our Citizen Action Center to send an email in support of HB1948 and it will automatically identify your State Senator and send them your message.

Voting YES on HB1948:

  1. Senator Stewart Greenleaf
  2. Senator John Rafferty
  3. Senator Joseph Scarnati
  4. Senator Richard Alloway
  5. Senator John Eichelberger
  6. Senator John Gordner
  7. Senator Guy Reschenthaler
  8. Senator Randy Vulakovich
  9. Senator Gene Yaw

Voting NO on HB1948:

  1. Senator Lisa Boscola
  2. Senator Lawrence Farnese
  3. Senator Art Haywood
  4. Senator Daylin Leach
  5. Senator John Sabatina

In 1989, when Pennsylvania’s Abortion Control Act became law, it permitted abortion as far as six-months into pregnancy (24 weeks, 6 days). At that time, babies born at 24 weeks had a slim chance of survival.

Today, thanks to medical advancements, premature babies are surviving at records rates. “Survival across the board has gone up for premature babies, particularly for the smallest babies, over the past two decades,” says Dr. Dennis Mujsce, the medical director of NICU at Penn State Milton S. Hershey. Dr. Mujsce says the increase in survival rate for babies born at 23 weeks has gone up from 1/4 of babies now to 1/3 of babies. For babies born at 24 weeks, now 60 to 65 percent survive (used to be half) and for babies born at 25 weeks, it’s as high as 80-85% (used to be only 75%).

Numerous states have now updated their limit on abortion to the first five-months of pregnancy. Globally, the United States is only one of seven nations to allow elective abortion past five-months (only North Korea, China, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore and the Netherlands allow elective late-term abortion along with the USA).

So many Pennsylvania kids born premature are now thriving. Kids like Jackson, born right at 24 weeks, or Will, born 24 weeks, 6 days – currently a legal day in PA to receive an abortion – or Lydia, born right at 25 weeks.

TAKE ACTION: Help Pennsylvania update its quarter-century-old law on abortion by asking your State Senator to vote YES on HB1948. To send your State Senator an email, click here.