By Tyler Nell ‘21, staff writer
Pennsylvania. We consider ourselves the middle ground state. The purple state that both parties battle over every election cycle, with Democrats in the east and west corners and Republicans in-between. Yet while being such a battleground state, we like to consider ourselves a state where we value the lives of our citizens above all politics. It is why Gov. Wolf instituted measures at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—to make sure the lives and health of Pennsylvanians are not put at risk and that the death toll is not any higher than it already has been. With 26,307 deaths caused by COVID-19, it is understandable why our governor would be as concerned as he was about the spread of this horrendous disease.
On top of this, Gov. Wolf has gone on record many times advocating for the health and well-being of the children of Pennsylvania. As of March this year, the Wolf Administration announced plans for $303 million to support childcare providers across Pennsylvania. This, of course, has not been the only time Gov. Wolf has gone on record proclaiming his work for the children of Pennsylvania.
“Our schools and our children have been my top priority since day one,” Gov. Wolf said in 2019 on his official Facebook page. “In my first term, we restored $1 billion in funding to education, implemented a fair funding formula, and provided unprecedented support to high-quality pre-k programs.”
Such efforts and goals are noble on Gov. Wolf’s behalf, and I commend him for taking such initiative. However, what is more vital is that Gov. Wolf shows the same compassion and care for an even more vulnerable demographic: the unborn. As of February this year, State Representative Stephanie Borowicz said she would introduce a Pennsylvania Heartbeat bill ‘soon.’ She would collaborate with Sen. Doug Mastriano and Sen. Rudy Ward.
Rep. Borowicz’s endeavor has been inspired by other states who have proposed and passed similar bills, such as Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama and Kentucky. The South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act is the legislation referenced by Mastriano and Borowicz specifically, which “prohibits the performance of an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected,” except for a few limited cases, including:
- the pregnancy is the result of rape and the probable age of the fetus is fewer than 20 weeks
- the pregnancy is the result of incest and the probable age of the fetus is fewer than 20 weeks
- there exists a fetal anomaly
- there exists a medical emergency necessitating the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death
In short, the legislators of Pennsylvania—men and women alike—are taking the initiative to protect the most vulnerable members of our society, completely in line with having care and compassion for Pennsylvania’s future generations. Then what does Gov. Wolf do? He vows to veto any heartbeat bill. Why on earth would the governor be so insistent that he cares for the children of Pennsylvania, yet when presented with the most important stage of the next generation’s birth, life in the womb, the governor shows complete disregard?
We as a state give all the lip service to our care for the children, and even throw funds into education and healthcare programs for the children. However, if we do not take the initiative to make sure they are safe from the very beginning of their life in the womb, how can we possibly be consistent, or morally sound, to say we hold the life of our children to be sacred? If we do not have a fundamental value for the life of the unborn, how can we come to value the already born? If we do not have a moral foundation for the house of life, how can we possibly imagine building walls of charity and compassion upon it? We simply cannot.
Therefore, I call upon the Wolf Administration: sign this future Heartbeat bill into law. If you truly hold the lives of the Pennsylvania people, especially the children, in as high regard as you claim, then pass this bill. This is not a matter of ‘healthcare access.’ This is a matter of preventing the killing of unborn children, and it is an abhorrence to our society to allow it to continue as it has.