Given the antiabortion stance of Gov. Corbett and the Republican-controlled legislature, a bill is likely to be signed into law, if not in the coming weeks, then this fall.
"What has happened is what most of us feared," Hughes says. "They would take the Gosnell situation, which was a total aberration, and then just use it to further whatever agenda."
With January's grand jury report of Kermit Gosnell, charged with the deaths of seven babies and a woman who died during an abortion at his West Philadelphia clinic, the state Department of Health began rigorous, unannounced inspections of state abortion providers. Astonishingly, Gosnell's facility hadn't been inspected since April 1993. Sen. Pat Vance (R., Cumberland), the only registered nurse in the legislature, proposed a bipartisan bill to ensure the enforcement of regulations so such atrocities never occur again.
But Sen. Bob Mensch (R., Montgomery) attached an amendment mirroring the House's stringent bill, proposed by Rep. Matt Baker (R., Bradford), which would require abortion clinics to meet the exacting standards of ambulatory surgical centers (ASC): an elevator, wide halls for gurneys, a full nursing staff, specific flooring and ventilation systems. Yet abortions are not invasive surgery, and most patients leave an hour after the procedure.
Pennsylvania has 20 freestanding abortion clinics, most in our region. Not one clinic would meet the new standards.
To reach compliance, facilities' costs would rise - experts estimate by as much as $1 million - or they would have to stop performing abortions. Most procedures would then be performed at hospitals, where fees are much higher. Poorer patients without insurance would not be able to afford them.
In proposing his legislation, Baker argued, "This shouldn't be about whether you are pro-life or pro-choice."
