Gov. Wolf’s Telemedicine Declaration Must Not Include Chemical Abortion

Mar 30, 2020 | 4 comments

The following statement may be attributed to Michael Geer, President of the Pennsylvania Family Institute:

On Saturday, March 28, in a move to expand healthcare access to address the Coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that any licensed medical professional may provide services via telemedicine.  This action should not be viewed as a license for Planned Parenthood to administer chemical abortions absent a physical meeting between the woman and a physician. Not only does Pennsylvania’s Abortion Conrol Act require “a private medical consultation either with the physician who is to perform the abortion or with the referring physician,” but telemed  abortions also run counter to federal guidelines.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies the abortion drug Mifeprex as a dangerous drug that must only be given in a health care setting and an in-person consultation with a medical professional. Any abortions via telemedicine will bring greater risk to women in Pennsylvania.

Planned Parenthood must not be allowed to capitalize on the emergency actions (like telemed expansion) taken to keep Pennsylvanians safe through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is also no time for Planned Parenthood to be allowed to remain open for elective surgical abortions when all other surgical facilities are prohibited from performing elective and other important procedures. 

Yet Governor Wolf is allowing elective surgical abortions to continue, increasing the risk of spreading the Coronavirus, and expending  scarce medical equipment that should be used to save lives. 

We must not further strain our hospitals and risk lives by allowing Planned Parenthood to increase abortions in Pennsylvania. In the midst of this pandemic, let’s help our frontline medical workers save lives.

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Take Action: Contact to your State Senator and urge their support for the telemedicine bill as amended (Senate Bill 857) and to have your Senator influence Majority Leader Jake Corman, who heads the Senate Rules Committee, to keep the bill as amended in order to ban telemed abortions in Pennsylvania. To send an email, go to pafamily.org/notelemedabortions