12
CityAndStatePA .com
October 2021
Fears grow over abortion rights after Wolf’s exit
Pro-choice advocates worry his replacement may go the opposite way.
By Justin Sweitzer
W
The governor has cemented his legacy as a fierce defender of a woman’s right to choose.
strikes me that the person who ought to make that choice, who knows most about what’s going on, is the person most directly involved and that’s the woman.” With a little over a year left in office, Wolf and advocates who support abortion access view the governor’s looming exit as bittersweet. On one hand, Wolf has been a crucial backstop who has steadfastly sup-
ported their cause. The other side of the coin, however, reveals an uncertain political landscape in Harrisburg that will be guided by who wins the governor’s office in 2022. “Wolf’s veto pen has stopped multiple attacks on abortion access in Pennsylvania,” said Signe Espinoza, the interim executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylva-
OFFICE OF GOV. TOM WOLF
HEN GOV. TOM WOLF leaves office in 2023 after eight years as Pennsylvania’s chief executive, his legacy will be marked not just by the bills that he signed into law, but also by the ones that he rejected. A former Planned Parenthood volunteer, Wolf will be remembered for his unabashed support of abortion rights – turning away bill after bill that would have restricted access to abortions. Supporters of abortion access have heralded Wolf as a key defender of the right to choose amid efforts from legislative Republicans to ban abortions. But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a Texas law banning most abortions in the state, abortion-rights advocates in Pennsylvania are fearful that the court’s conservative majority could jeopardize longstanding abortion precedent. That, coupled with Wolf’s impending departure, could result in a perfect political storm that leads to a drastic rollback of abortion rights. And that has some advocates worried. Since first taking office in 2015, Wolf has fended off attempts from lawmakers to curtail access to abortions in Pennsylvania. In 2017, he vetoed Senate Bill 3, which would have banned abortions after 20 weeks and did not include exceptions for victims of rape or incest. In 2019, Wolf turned away a bill from state Rep. Kate Klunk that would have banned abortions made on the basis of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. And just last year, he vetoed a bill establishing telemedicine regulations because it would have barred health care providers from prescribing drugs used to induce abortions. In an interview with City & State, Wolf said his devotion to protecting access to abortion was born from the idea that politicians shouldn’t dictate decisions made between a patient and their doctor. “I don’t think politics has any place in the doctor’s office,” Wolf said. “I think the position that I and other pro-choice folks take is simply that nature has burdened all of us with a very difficult decision here. The question is not whether we have a choice to make – we do. The question is who’s going to make that choice. And it
