On April 20, 2026, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a 4-3 ruling in Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, declaring a sweeping new “right to reproductive autonomy.” This decision forces taxpayers to fund abortion through Medicaid, overturns longstanding protections, and bypasses the will of the people. Further review is expected on this case.
Josh Shapiro publicly celebrated the ruling, stating that he had “long opposed” the law and chose not to defend it as governor. In his own words, he justified the decision by arguing that access to abortion should not depend on income. This admission confirms that, rather than defending Pennsylvania law, Shapiro aligned himself with the abortion industry’s agenda. As Attorney General and now as Governor, Shapiro has consistently sided with the abortion industry over the people of Pennsylvania.
This win for the abortion industry that Governor Shapiro is celebrating does more than force taxpayers to fund abortion. By inventing a new state-constitutional “right to reproductive autonomy,” the court has opened the door to striking down nearly every pro-life law in Pennsylvania. It could pave the way for abortion up until birth, paid for with taxpayer dollars.
Any future pro-life protections for women and preborn babies would likely be invalidated under this sweeping standard. Existing safeguards in the Abortion Control Act, including the 24-hour waiting period, informed consent requirements, and the 24-week limit, are now at risk of being overturned as unconstitutional. The same is true for abortion facility regulations enacted after the Kermit Gosnell “House of Horrors” scandal, which were put in place to protect women from abuse and neglect.
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Celebrating this type of judicial overreach, especially on an issue like abortion, is not a moderate position. Governor Shapiro likes to present himself as a moderate, as someone who is getting things done, as the people’s person. But when someone tells you who they are, believe them. Shapiro has a clear record of extremism when it comes to the abortion industry. Just look back at legislation passed in 2011, because few issues reveal his record more clearly than where he stands on family and life.
Back in 2011, Governor Shapiro showed us exactly who he was as a state representative. The PA House voted on health and safety regulations for abortion clinics, holding them to the same standard as other ambulatory surgical centers. The measure passed with bipartisan support. Yet Shapiro was one of those who refused to support it. This was not an isolated decision. It has become a consistent pattern in his record.
Now, as governor, Shapiro continues to take an extreme stand against life that most Pennsylvanians do not support, including many who identify as pro-choice. On one of his first days in office, when he had the opportunity to set the tone for his administration, he demonstrated his priorities by meeting with leaders from Planned Parenthood across Pennsylvania.
He took a selfie with them and posted it on social media, highlighting how proud he was of the meeting. His administration then used taxpayer dollars to create a website directing women to abortion facilities, showing them where to go and how to pay for it.
He cut funding for Real Alternatives, which supports pregnancy resource centers. His administration also created a website on the Pennsylvania government portal to solicit complaints against those same centers. This is from a governor who claims to care about women’s health and women’s choice. Yet nothing undermines women’s choice more than targeting local pregnancy resource centers that support women who want to keep their babies but feel alone.
Maybe they’ve never had the resources to raise a child. They don’t have any of the necessary money or diapers or formula. Pregnancy resource centers across Pennsylvania provide all those things for free and walk alongside women, not just through their pregnancies, but through at least the first year of pregnancy.
This is what Governor Shapiro is opposing in support of the billion-dollar abortion industry. The governor has shown how extreme he is on life issues starting all the way back from when he was a state representative to the present. And this week, Governor Shapiro proudly proclaimed he opposed a bipartisan law that prohibited taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions.
This is directly opposite to what the majority of Pennsylvanians across the partisan spectrum (right, left, pro-life, pro-choice) support. They don’t want taxpayer money to fund abortions. But Governor Shapiro does not care what Pennsylvanians think. He cares about what the abortion industry thinks.
Under Governor Shapiro, the abortion industry and their supported legislators are flourishing. And we need to step back and ask ourselves, who’s benefiting? Who’s benefiting from the removal of the most basic health and safety requirements? The abortion industry wants to call themselves a “health care” industry, but they don’t want any of the oversight; they don’t want any of the accountability that literally every other real health care facility has to provide.
That’s because an industry that makes their money and thrives off of killing unborn life is not health care and it shows in every way that they react and every way that they interact with legislation. The people who are benefiting are not children, certainly. The people who are benefiting are not women. The people who are benefiting are not families. The people who are benefiting is the billion dollar abortion industry.
Governor Shapiro is backing a massive industry. He is effectively lining their pockets, making it easier for them to attract more clients while operating with lower standards and generating greater profits. That is what this comes down to.
We do not yet know what lies ahead for the Allegheny Reproductive case or abortion policy in Pennsylvania, but we will keep you informed every step of the way. With elections approaching for governor, U.S. House, state senate, and state house, the stakes could not be higher.
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