Why is no one talking about the proposed constitutional amendment on abortion in Pennsylvania?

Gilead

Abortion


Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

It’s more than a bit curious that the media now focus on Pennsylvania’s proposed voter identification amendment, omitting entirely any mention of the abortion amendment, that must be ratified by the legislature again this year to make it onto the ballot. The story today is that Pennsylvania Speaker of the House of Representatives Mark Rozzi has effectively shut down the House until after a special election on February 7 to fill three vacant seats, almost certainly with Democrats.[1]

Rozzi, who was raped by a Catholic priest at age 13, wants to increase the “window” of time for victims of such crimes to sue. Republicans are trying to tie that to their package of constitutional amendments[2] which would require voter identification and assert that the Pennsylvania constitution does not protect abortion rights.[3] The addition of three Democrats would improve Rozzi’s leverage to keep the matters separate.[4]

Adam Smeltz, “Pa. House Speaker Mark Rozzi kicks off ‘listening tour’ in Pittsburgh as Harrisburg remains gridlocked,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2023/01/25/mark-rozzi-pa-house-speaker-listening-tour-pittsburgh-cmu/stories/202301250101

Competitive authoritarian regime project


Fig. 1. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Adam Smeltz, “Pa. House Speaker Mark Rozzi kicks off ‘listening tour’ in Pittsburgh as Harrisburg remains gridlocked,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2023/01/25/mark-rozzi-pa-house-speaker-listening-tour-pittsburgh-cmu/stories/202301250101


  1. [1]Adam Smeltz, “Pa. House Speaker Mark Rozzi kicks off ‘listening tour’ in Pittsburgh as Harrisburg remains gridlocked,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2023/01/25/mark-rozzi-pa-house-speaker-listening-tour-pittsburgh-cmu/stories/202301250101
  2. [2]Adam Smeltz, “Pa. House Speaker Mark Rozzi kicks off ‘listening tour’ in Pittsburgh as Harrisburg remains gridlocked,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2023/01/25/mark-rozzi-pa-house-speaker-listening-tour-pittsburgh-cmu/stories/202301250101
  3. [3]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/; Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Legislature approves constitutional amendments to declare residents don’t have the right to an abortion, to require voter ID,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/07/08/pennsylvania-senate-advances-constitutional-amendments-residents-rights-relating-abortion-require-voter-id/stories/202207080102; Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Senate GOP committee advances late-night amendment to restrict abortion, require voter ID,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/07/08/pennsylvania-senate-republicans-advance-constitutional-amendment-to-restrict-abortion-and-call-for-voter-ids-roe-v-wade/stories/202207080073; Katie Meyer, “Fight gears up over Pa. constitutional amendment to protect ‘every unborn child,’” WHYY, July 1, 2022, https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-abortion-rights-constitutional-amendment-fight/; Rodrigo Torrejón, “What the Pa. constitutional amendment package could mean for abortion and elections,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 8, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/pa-senate-constitutional-amendments-abortion-elections-voting-20220708.html
  4. [4]Adam Smeltz, “Pa. House Speaker Mark Rozzi kicks off ‘listening tour’ in Pittsburgh as Harrisburg remains gridlocked,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 26, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2023/01/25/mark-rozzi-pa-house-speaker-listening-tour-pittsburgh-cmu/stories/202301250101

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.