Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board: “Abortion Is On the Ballot” In PA Gov Race
New reports from the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board and the Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center reveal just how critical the Pennsylvania governor’s race will be for the future of protecting reproductive rights and the state’s economy.
The editorial board highlighted how, if elected, Doug Mastriano would have a clear path to ban abortion. While Josh Shapiro has promised to safeguard reproductive rights, Mastriano promised to “move with alacrity” to ban abortion without exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
A new study released last week by the Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center found Mastriano’s total ban on abortion would cut $10 billion a year from the state’s economy through lost wages.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to have a fundamental right they had for nearly 50 years before three new Supreme Court justices decided to upend the legal precedent,” the editorial board wrote. “The stakes are high in Pennsylvania, and the choice on Election Day is clear.”
Read key excerpts from the editorial below:
Philadelphia Inquirer: At stake in Mastriano vs. Shapiro, the fate of abortion rights in Pennsylvania | Editorial
Abortion is on the ballot this year.
Nowhere is the choice clearer than in Pennsylvania. The races for governor and U.S. Senate could determine whether people have access to reproductive rights in Pennsylvania and nationwide.
[…]
In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal within the first 23 weeks of pregnancy. Whether that remains the law of the commonwealth depends on who is elected governor on Nov. 8.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is all-in on outlawing abortion in Pennsylvania. In the spring, Mastriano said abortion was his “No. 1 issue.”
If elected, Mastriano promised to “move with alacrity” to ban abortion after about six weeks into a pregnancy. He made clear his ban would include victims of rape and incest. “I don’t give a way for exceptions,” Mastriano said.
Mastriano dismissed a pregnant person’s right to choose what to do with their own body, saying: “My body, my choice is ridiculous nonsense.” So much for privacy, freedom, and individual rights.
Given the state House and Senate in Pennsylvania are controlled by Republicans, if elected, Mastriano would have a clear path to outlaw abortion.
The current governor, Tom Wolf, a Democrat who is completing his second term and is barred from running for reelection, is the only thing keeping Harrisburg lawmakers from imposing Texas-style antiabortion measures. Since Wolf took office, the General Assembly has introduced six different antiabortion bills. Wolf vetoed three measures that made it to his desk and vowed to veto any others that came before him.
Mastriano’s opponent is Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. Like Wolf, Shapiro supports a pregnant person’s right to an abortion in Pennsylvania. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Shapiro rallied in defense of abortion rights with hundreds of others at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Research shows that abortion bans do not stop people from seeking abortions. But the bans do increase the health risk to pregnant people and lead to more deaths.
[…]
Pennsylvanians deserve to have a fundamental right they had for nearly 50 years before three new Supreme Court justices decided to upend the legal precedent.
The stakes are high in Pennsylvania, and the choice on Election Day is clear.
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