Planned Parenthood and its allies descended on the Capitol today with one message: they want every pro-life protection in Pennsylvania wiped out. And standing shoulder to shoulder with them was none other than the Democrat Speaker of the Pennsylvania House, Joanna McClinton, openly joining the abortion lobby’s push to eliminate every safeguard for women and erase every limit on abortion in our Commonwealth.
The clearest statement of the day came from Roxanne Sutocky of The Women’s Centers. This organization operates two abortion facilities in Pennsylvania, which told the crowd that lawmakers must “remove…all of them,” meaning every pro-life limit on the books. No parental protections. No safety requirements. No informed-consent rules. Nothing.
Sutocky’s demand was especially alarming considering the record of her own facility. The Philadelphia Women’s Center, which performs over 5,000 abortions every year, including more than 850 late-term, pain-capable children, has failed building inspections nine years in a row, accumulating 19 building-safety failures and 15 health inspection failures since 2012.
Despite repeated violations ranging from blocked fire exits to failing infection controls and even failing to obtain parental consent for minors, the same facility is now demanding lawmakers erase every safeguard, “all of them.”
A handful of legislators, including the Speaker of the House, stood behind these extreme demands, repeating claims that Pennsylvania must remove long-standing protections that were enacted precisely to prevent another Gosnell-style disaster.
It’s stunning how quickly some politicians, standing shoulder to shoulder with the abortion industry, seem to forget the hard lessons of Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” in West Philadelphia and the human cost of looking the other way.
Throughout the event, leaders fearmongered with claims that “threats” to “women’s health” and “reproductive freedom” are at Pennsylvania’s doorstep.
Governor Josh Shapiro’s Secretary of the Department of Human Services, Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, closed the press conference by showing their true loyalty and promising the administration’s continued support for abortion providers. She then led the crowd in the usual false slogan:
“Reproductive care is health care… Reproductive care is health care.”
Secretary Arkoosh attacked recent federal action limiting Medicaid dollars from going to locations that also perform abortions, calling it “one big awful bill… not okay,” and urged activists present to lobby both federal and state lawmakers to protect funding for these abortion locations. She avoided naming “women” and instead referred to “pregnant people,” – unbecoming, confusing language for the state’s top health official.
The Women’s Law Project speaker, Lila Slovak, pressed lawmakers to pass a Pennsylvania version of the FACE Act to further shield abortion facilities from pro-life protest and accountability.
The FACE Act is increasingly weaponized to criminalize peaceful pro-life advocacy, giving the government broad power to intimidate, prosecute, and silence citizens who simply stand outside abortion facilities to pray, speak, or offer help to women in crisis.
She also demanded protection for controversial transgender procedures, using the phrase “gender-affirming health care,” a deceptive euphemism that hides serious and life-altering interventions on minors.
Taxpayer-funded partners standing with Planned Parenthood
In addition to lawmakers and statewide officials, the event drew staff from Access Matters, one of Pennsylvania’s federally funded “family planning” councils that routes tax dollars to abortion-related organizations.
According to public filings, Access Matters reported over $13.5 million in government grants in 2022, including $833,000 to Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania and $361,000 to Planned Parenthood Keystone that same year.
So when the rotunda fills with activists demanding more “funding,” it is not a neutral ask. It is a direct push for more taxpayer money funneled through intermediaries like Access Matters into the abortion industry, including Planned Parenthood locations across Pennsylvania.
Avoiding the word “abortion”
Even as speakers called for the removal of every pro-life limit, almost no one on stage dared to use the word “abortion.” Instead, the crowd was fed a stream of euphemisms—“our health,” “bodily autonomy,” “full spectrum care”—all carefully crafted to hide what this movement is actually fighting for.
Pennsylvania Family Institute Vice President Tom Shaheen noted,
“It’s telling that at a press conference devoted to expanding abortion, only one speaker dared to use the word—and only to deny that abortion was the issue. The rest relied on slogans to mask what they really seek: abortion on demand, without protections for women or restrictions.”
For strongly pro-life Pennsylvanians, and even for citizens who want safeguards for women, today’s press conference is a sobering reminder of the stakes in Harrisburg. Planned Parenthood and its allies are working aggressively to:
- Enshrine abortion in the state Constitution,
- Force taxpayers to fund elective abortions through Medicaid,
- Strip away existing pro-life safeguards, and
- Direct more state and federal dollars through groups like Access Matters into abortion facilities.
All of it is wrapped in appealing slogans like “Our Health. Our Future.” while the reality of abortion – the deliberate ending of a preborn child’s life – is carefully hidden from view.
What happened in Harrisburg today was not a call for “health care”, but rather a coordinated push to strip away every safeguard, shield the most negligent abortion businesses in the state, and pretend that euphemisms can hide the deadly reality of abortion.
Pennsylvania Family Institute will continue to expose this agenda, defend the most vulnerable, and equip citizens like you to speak up with clarity and courage for life in our Commonwealth.
Your voice matters in this fight, and when you give to the Pennsylvania Family Institute, you help shine light on what politicians and the abortion industry work hard to disguise, equipping more Pennsylvanians with truth, strengthening legal and policy efforts that protect preborn children and their mothers, and ensuring a bold, pro-life witness remains present in Harrisburg. Please consider making a gift today to stand with us and advance a culture of life in our Commonwealth.
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