WHEREAS, the Philadelphia Bar Association, the oldest association of lawyers in the United States, supports the protection of civil rights and liberties and the elimination of discrimination; and
WHEREAS, nearly fifty years ago, in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), the United States Supreme Court recognized that the right to privacy under the U.S. Constitution included the fundamental right to abortion; and
WHEREAS, in 1982, the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted the Abortion Control Act, which includes provisions such as a 24-hour mandatory waiting period,1 a doctor-only rule,2 limitations on minors' access to care,3 a prohibition on Medicaid funding for abortions,4 and state-mandated counseling;5 and
WHEREAS, in 1992, when reviewing the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the central holding of Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), based on the broad scope of individual liberty and the principle of stare decisis; and
WHEREAS, nearly fifty years after Roe and thirty years after Casey, the U.S. Supreme Court departed from stare decisis by overturning the right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, No. 19-1392 (June 24, 2022), 597 U.S. ____ (2022), jeopardizing the health and well-being of pregnant people across the country in jurisdictions where additional restrictions are being placed on abortion after the ruling in Dobbs; and
WHEREAS, abortion is already restricted in Pennsylvania and further restrictions likely would make this medical procedure more inaccessible for many Pennsylvanians, especially Black and brown people, people living in rural areas, immigrants, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty;6 and
WHEREAS, the overturning of Roe has resulted in immediate abortion bans in several states, causing an influx of patients to Pennsylvania;7 and
WHEREAS, abortion is essential healthcare that is safe and provides pregnant people autonomy over their own healthcare decisions and well-being;8 and
WHEREAS, a majority of Americans support a right to abortion;9 and
WHEREAS, further abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania would cause significant harm, for example, by distorting the doctor-patient relationship by inserting politics into medical care, forcing people to face the risks associated with pregnancy and birth when they are unable to obtain an abortion, forcing people to travel long distances for medical care, and forcing low-income pregnant people to pay for abortion out of pocket and thus forgo paying for necessities like housing and food;10 and
WHEREAS, further abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania could threaten access to procedures necessary to manage miscarriage management, ectopic pregnancy treatment, and infertility treatment;11 and
WHEREAS, in Pennsylvania, between 2013 and 2018, there was a 21.4% increase in pregnancy-associated death, where non-Hispanic Black women accounted for 23% of the pregnancy-associated deaths while comprising only 14% of the births;12 and further abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania likely would lead to higher rates of maternal mortality; and
WHEREAS, further abortion restrictions in Pennsylvania, including bans and criminalization, likely will increase the healthcare inequities and other harms pregnant people will experience;13 and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania abortion providers who treat out-of-state-patients face the threat of out-of-state investigations or prosecutions;14 and
WHEREAS, the American Bar Association (ABA), numerous state and local bar associations or their sections, and large law firms throughout the nation have issued statements in support of protecting reproductive rights;15 and
WHEREAS, actions to further restrict or ban abortion in the Commonwealth have advanced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, including a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution to declare that abortion is not a right, despite the robust equal protection provisions in Article I, §§ 1, 26 and Article III, § 32 and the guarantee of equality on the basis of sex in Article I, § 28; and
WHEREAS, the Philadelphia Bar Association opposes amending the Pennsylvania constitution to bypass the legislative process by eliminating the Governor's role and substantive judicial review by the courts;16 and
WHEREAS, the anti-abortion provision in Joint Resolution 2022-1, Section 1(1) amends §30 of the Constitution to state that “This constitution does not grant the right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right relating to abortion;”17 and
WHEREAS, Joint Resolution 2022-1passed both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly on July 9, 2022, without a public hearing, bringing the anti-abortion constitutional amendment a step closer to completing the process for amending the state constitution, which requires a proposed amendment to pass in two consecutive sessions and be advertised before it is put on the ballot for approval by the voters of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, in addition to Joint Resolution 2022-1, Senate Bill 956 PN 1286 and House Bill 2252 PN 2614 are proposed anti-abortion constitutional amendments that would amend Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution to state that “the policy of Pennsylvania is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception to birth, to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States. Nothing in this Constitution grants or secures any right relating to abortion or public funding of abortion. Nothing in this Constitution requires taxpayer funding for abortion”;18 and
WHEREAS, there are numerous additional bills pending in the 2021-22 session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly which would ban, restrict, or undermine abortion rights and access, including a six-week abortion ban (House Bill 904 PN 891 /Senate Bill 378 PN 365);19 and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association opposes legislation or amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would further restrict reproductive rights or access to abortion; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass evidence-based laws that protect the health and safety of pregnant people to reduce maternal mortality, and increase access to health care; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass legislation that protects reproductive rights and physicians and staff providing abortion care in Pennsylvania from extraterritorial investigations and prosecutions; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association urges the United States Congress to pass legislation consistent with this Resolution; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Philadelphia Bar Association authorizes the Chancellor or the Chancellor's designee to communicate the content of this Resolution to elected officials in Pennsylvania, other public officials, other bar associations, and the public at large, and to take such other action as may be appropriate.
PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
ADOPTED: September 29, 2022
1 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3205(a)(1).
2 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3204(a).
3 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3206.
4 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3215.
5 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3205; Cynthia R. Daniels et al., Informed Consent Project, Pennsylvania, http://informedconsentproject.com/states/pennsylvania/.
6 In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Agenda Ensuring Access to Safe Abortion Care for Black Women Washington (DC), 2020. Online: https://www.blackrj.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/6217-IOOV_Abortion.pdf. See also, JAMA Network Open Association Between Distance to an Abortion Facility and Abortion of Pregnancy Outcome Among a Prospective Cohort of People Seeking Abortion Online, May 13, 2022. Online: https://www.jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792291
7 https://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2022/07/13/out-of-state-patients-surge-at-allegheny-county-abortion-clinics-supreme-court-dobbs-jackson/stories/202207120095
8 Elizabeth G. Raymond et al., The Comparative Safety of Legal Induced Abortion and Childbirth in the United States, 119 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY 215 (2012), abstract available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270271; Nat'l Academies of Sci., Eng'g, and Med., The safety and quality of abortion care in the United States, The Nat'l Academies Press (2018), https://doi.org/10.17226/24950.
9 Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/06/13/about-six-in-ten-americans-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases-2/
10 Many people seeking abortion care experience housing insecurity. See, e.g., Homelessness, Housing Instability, and Abortion Outcomes at an Urban Abortion Clinic in the United States, 6 Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 223 (2020), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32640198/
11 See, e.g., PBS News Hour, How Overturning Roe v. Wade Could Affect IVF (May 27, 2022), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/how-overturning-roe-v-wade-could-affect-ivf;
12 Pennsylvania Dep't of Health, Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Pennsylvania, 2013-2018 (Dec. 2020), https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/Documents/Diseases%20and%20Conditions/Pregnancy%20Associated%20Deaths%202013-2018%20FINAL.pdf
13 National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Abortion in America: How Legislative Overreach is Turning Reproductive Rights into Criminal Wrongs (Aug. 2021), https://www.nacdl.org/Document/AbortioninAmericaLegOverreachCriminalizReproRights
14 See, e.g., S.B. 603, 101st Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Mo. 2021).
15 See, e.g., ABA: https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2022/08/aba-reaffirms-support-reproductive-rights/; San Francisco: https://www.sfbar.org/about-us/newsroom/06242022-basf-statement-on-roe-v-wade-decision/; New York: https://nysba.org/new-york-state-bar-associations-women-in-law-section-issues-statement-on-the-supreme-courts-decision-in-dobbs-overturning-roe-v-wade/; Law firms: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2022/06/27/law-firms-statements-on-the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade/?slreturn=20220801114506
16 https://philadelphiabar.org/?pg=ResMarch22_1 and note Pennsylvania Senate Bill 106, Printer's No. 1857, now known as Joint Resolution 2022-1, was initially a proposed state constitutional amendment about the process related to electing the Lieutenant Governor, but has been amended to include a voter identification law, a process for election audits, language to allow the legislature to disapprove regulations, and the No Right to Abortion provision
17 SB 106, Printer's No. 1857, pg. 1, lines 15-17. See also: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2021&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0106&pn=1857
19 SB 956, Printer's No. 1286, pg. 1, lines 9-15; HB 2252, Printer's No. 2614, pg. 1, line 9-pg. 2, line 1.
19 HB 904, Printer's No. 891; SB 378, Printer's No. 365.
