State bill to ban Down syndrome abortions advances
HARRISBURG — The Republican-controlled state Senate came one step closer Wednesday to considering a controversial bill — thought to have been stalled in committee — that would outlaw aborting fetuses based solely on a diagnosis of Downsyndrome.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 2050, introduced by Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, and passed in the House in April. Its supporters say it would protect children with a developmental disability. Critics have called it a thinly veiled attempt to roll back abortion rights in the state.
If the full Senate passes the bill, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, likely would veto it. He vetoed another measure in December that would have banned abortions 20 weeks into a pregnancy or later, and he has said he opposes this one.
Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster, said the latest bill would create a protection similar to a current law that bans abortions basedon the sex of the fetus.
“We really need to be protective of the fact that we don’t engage in anything that’s very eugenic,” Mr. Martin said. “We’ve seen what that’s done in our country before.”
Down syndrome can be detected in fetuses through blood tests and amniocentesis, a test that samples amniotic fluid in the uterus to detect developmental abnormalities.
Mr. Martin said he fears the test could be inaccurate and added that people with Down syndrome can “live just normal, successful lives as so many of us in our communities.”
Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, who chairs the committee, said, “We don’t want to be in a situation where we’re choosing groups of people who should live and who should not live.”
The bill has been the subject of political maneuvering recently. After several months without any movement in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Turzai proposed tacking the abortion
get the abortion.”
He added, “I’m not sure I understand what the law actually does, and that troublesme.”
Mr. Geer said he interprets the bill as one that still allows a woman’s right to an abortion but restricts the actions of a doctor to pressure a woman to undergo one after receiving a Down syndrome diagnosis for her fetus. He said his group had received numerous responses from parents who allegedthey were pressured by doctors or genetic counselors to undergo an abortion after this diagnosis.
“This legislation would now teach that that’s no longer the professional thing to do,” Mr. Geer added. “We think that respect and dignity begins at the diagnosis [of Down syndrome]. We’re excited about this bill because it helps stop the targeting of unborn children because they have a diagnosisof Down syndrome.”
Pennsylvania’s chapter of Planned Parenthood and the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy have previously called the bill “deeply dangerous” and “exploitative.”
“While we vehemently believe that all lives of disabled people are worth celebration and support, we condemn the Legislature’s attempt to force pregnant people to carry unwanted pregnancies while refusing to also support families and individuals with the basic services they need to be fully integrated in our communities and realize their fundamental rights,” Cori Frazer, executive director of the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy, said in a statement when the bill was advancing through the Housein April.
The bill, if passed, could be subjected to a legal test as well.
Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat representing parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, said on Wednesday that the bill was “clearly unconstitutional” and he did not support its movement out of committee. Mr. Martin said he “would not doubt there will be a legal challenge.”