These Nine Pennsylvania Lawmakers Just Asked the Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

If Roe v. Wade is overruled entirely or more seriously weakened, states may soon be able to criminalize many or even all abortions.

We know from public health data that criminalizing abortion increases the maternal mortality rate. In other words, criminalizing abortion kills women.

Nine Pennsylvania lawmakers signed on to an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief authored by Americans United for Life (AUL) and filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in June Medical Services v. Gee. In the brief, they call on the U.S. Supreme Court to reach beyond the case itself and overturn both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

June Medical Services is the first big abortion rights case to go before the court since Trump appointed conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

“Research repeatedly demonstrates that legal abortion in the United States under Roe is exceedingly safe. Beyond that, Pennsylvanians and Americans overwhelmingly support Roe v. Wade,” says WLP attorney Christine Castro. “It is appalling so many lawmakers elected to represent the interests of Pennsylvanians in the U.S. Congress have chosen to advance policies that will harm constituents instead.”

AUL is an organization that writes and advocates for anti-abortion and anti-choice legislation. The group has taken credit for authoring one-third of the abortion restrictions enacted between 2011 and 2014.

Right-wing anti-abortion politicians across the country, including Pennsylvania, have quietly relied on AUL’s boilerplate bills for years. It’s remarkable, though, that such politicians are now willing to publicly align with an organization that encourages doctors to conduct dangerous medical experiments on pregnant patients by promoting a practice the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says is not based on science and fails to meet clinical standards.

It recently came to light that AUL advised David Daleiden regarding “numerous aspects” of his project to create and distribute deceptively edited videos falsely implicate Planned Parenthood in criminal activity. In November, a jury found Daleiden violated state and federal laws against trespassing, fraud, clandestine recording and racketeering.

In all, 39 senators and 168 House members signed the brief, including nine Pennsylvania politicians:

Senator Pat Toomey Rep. John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) Rep. Fred Keller (PA-12) Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-16) Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) Rep. Daniel P. Meuser (PA-09) Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14) Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (PA-15)

All nine are Republicans.

Attorneys at the Women’s Law Project, together with the private law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, and WLP board member and Drexel law professor David S. Cohen, filed a brief in this case supporting June Medical Services.

Read our brief here and our recent op-ed wherein we outline our arguments here.

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The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center devoted to defending and expanding the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ people in Pennsylvania and beyond.

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