Abortion Clinics

Pennsylvania's anti-abortion forces have a genius for timing and packaging their legislative moves. The state Abortion Control Act they sponsored four years ago landed on Gov. Thornburgh's desk in the middle of his re-election campaign, winning approval despite the governor's better legal instincts. The U.S. Supreme Court, of course, threw most of it out, saying its real motive was to inhibit a woman's legal right to abortion. But the House - Rep. Stephen F. Freind (R., Delaware)

HARRISBURG - Without fanfare or comment, Gov. Corbett on Wednesday signed into law tough standards for 24 Pennsylvania abortion clinics as well as a Republican-crafted remapping of state congressional districts. Both bills generated controversy, but the clinic proposal sparked a pitched battle between proponents and foes of abortion rights. The bill's backers said it would prevent horror stories such as those in a grand jury report about physician Kermit Gosnell's long-uninspected West Philadelphia clinic.

Arsonists torched one Florida abortion clinic and may have been responsible for a fire at another early yesterday, authorities said. Deborah Struthers, president of the All Woman's Health Center in Ocala and the Fort Myers Woman's Health Center, said both places were hit about the same time. The Ocala fire was the second in less than 10 days. Someone tried to burn the clinic down early March 31. Officials said yesterday's blaze looked like the work of the same arsonist. Authorities were still looking into the cause of the Fort Myers fire yesterday afternoon.

As the mourning continues for the two receptionists brutally killed in Brookline, Mass., Friday, as the security at abortion clinics there and around the nation is reinforced once again, it is essential to remember this: Today in America, abortion does not, under the law, equal murder. It is true that many in this nation hold a deep conviction that destroying a fetus is akin to murder. But the highest court in this nation of laws has held that abortion, in most circumstances, is a legally protected act, not to be equated with murder of a live human.

Senators opposed to abortion are expected to try to pass legislation this week that would require all abortion clinics in the state to comply with the state's Certificate of Need Law. The law, which is designed to control medical costs by requiring hospitals and other major medical facilities to get state approval before undertaking expansions, has never before been applied to abortion clinics. A measure placing the clinics under the law is expected to be offered by state Sen. M. Joseph Rocks (D., Phila.

Abortion-clinic volunteer escorts will wear bulletproof vests when they accompany women visiting two clinics in Pensacola, Fla., a national foundation said yesterday. The Feminist Majority, which supports causes related to women's rights, said it bought the gear to protect the volunteers. There have been two fatal shootings at Pensacola abortion clinics in the last 18 months, most recently the slaying last Friday of Dr. John Britton and escort James Barrett at the Ladies Center clinic.

HARRISBURG - In an unusual move, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has waded into a bitter dispute over whether legislation aimed at tightening state regulations for abortion clinics is really a stealth effort to limit access to abortions. Williams authored a two-page letter this week to legislative leaders regarding House Bill 574, which would have the law treat most abortion clinics as "ambulatory surgical facilities" and thus subject to stricter inspections and operating regulations.

In a ruling that broadens the right of women's health clinics to sue abortion protesters, a federal appeals court yesterday granted several clinics the right to join such lawsuits even when they had not been specific targets of the demonstrators. In some of the toughest language yet, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision and rejected the arguments of anti-abortion activists who had participated in Operation Rescue, a series of July 1988 demonstrations at Philadelphia-area clinics.

HARRISBURG - A controversial bill imposing stricter standards on abortion clinics in Pennsylvania cleared the state Senate Tuesday and now heads to the House, where its fate is uncertain. By a vote of 38-12, the Senate passed legislation - prompted by a grand jury's report exposing horrific conditions at a Philadelphia abortion clinic - that would increase inspection, space, staffing, and other requirements for the 20 clinics operating throughout the state. The bill, which changed dramatically since its introduction earlier this year, needs House approval and Gov. Corbett's signature to become law. Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

HARRISBURG — Even as some Republicans try to steer policy initiatives toward bread-and-butter economic issues in advance of the November elections, a small band of GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg tacked rightward Wednesday, introducing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania. The legislation, similar to antiabortion bills crafted in other states, would bar all federal and state funding to the nonprofit, which provides abortions along with an array of other women's health services.

March is a festival of celebrations: the advent of spring, St. Patrick's Day, the exaltation of frozen food, and the history of women. Yet, according to Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics, Pennsylvania ranks 42d in electing women to the state legislature. Friends, this qualifies as good news. Three years ago, we were 46th. Pennsylvania is the sole Northeastern state loitering in the bottom quintile (once 43d, New Jersey is 10th) along with such territories of progress as Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, and a huge swath of Dixie, including rock-bottom South Carolina, which actually has a female governor, something we've never come remotely close to achieving.

As the new year dawned, abortion provider Steven C. Brigham sat in the Camden County Jail, awaiting extradition on murder charges. A thousand miles away, a suspicious fire gutted his company's Florida clinic, where he substituted for a doctor murdered 18 years ago. Brigham's extraordinary saga continued Wednesday, when the erstwhile physician appeared before Superior Court Judge Michael J. Kassel and agreed to be transported to Elkton, Md.,...

More will suffer It is easy to understand why State Rep. Margo Davidson, whose cousin had been a victim of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, would vote to regulate all abortion providers out of existence ("The personal stake behind abortion vote," Dec. 16). But making safe and responsible abortion-care providers upgrade their facilities and staffing to the level of ambulatory surgical centers will do nothing to prevent another Gosnell. According to the grand jury report, Gosnell violated many laws, and the state failed to follow up on repeated complaints against him. This new law provides no protection against those who are intent on violating it. There remains ongoing misinformation about the commonwealth's authority to inspect abortion-care providers.

HARRISBURG - Without fanfare or comment, Gov. Corbett on Wednesday signed into law tough standards for 24 Pennsylvania abortion clinics as well as a Republican-crafted remapping of state congressional districts. Both bills generated controversy, but the clinic proposal sparked a pitched battle between proponents and foes of abortion rights. The bill's backers said it would prevent horror stories such as those in a grand jury report about physician Kermit Gosnell's long-uninspected West Philadelphia clinic.

THIS POST originally appeared on Philly.com's Baer Growls blog yesterday. (A brief discussion between John Baer & Baer's editor, a/k/a BE.) JB: Yo, Boss, merry and happy are we! BE: And by "we" you mean? JB: The Capitol crowd. The Harrisburg herd. For the Legislature, the holidays are here and the "peoples' business" is done for the year. BE: Um, what business, exactly, was done? JB: The usual, of course: as little as possible. The Senate is gone, and the House is in a couple of days next week to pass a ridiculously gerrymandered congressional districting bill.

HARRISBURG - Standing on the floor of the state House, her voice choked with emotion, the first-term Democratic legislator from Upper Darby explained why she had just voted for the bill tightening regulations for abortion clinics. State Rep. Margo L. Davidson said her 22-year-old cousin had been a victim of Kermit Gosnell. Semika Shaw was "just coming into her own as a young woman," Davidson said, when she died in 2002 from an infection caused by a botched abortion in Gosnell's West Philadelphia clinic.

Gov. Corbett should carefully consider the consequences and refuse to sign legislation that would roll back women's ability to obtain safe abortions. Before it adjourned for the holidays, the state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that goes too far in tightening regulations on abortion clinics. Supporters say the measure will prevent more travesties such as the deaths of unborn babies that led to murder charges against Kermit Gosnell, the operator of a Philadelphia abortion clinic.

AS WINTER break approaches, Harrisburg lawmakers are scrambling to get some work done. Normally we'd applaud our legislators for stepping up their effort before yet another long vacation. But hard work is commendable only when you do a good job. Considering what lawmakers are spending their time on, we'd rather they just go home. Take, for instance, the voter-ID bill that passed out of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. It would require voters to present ID every time they go to the polls - in theory, to protect against fraud.

HARRISBURG - The state Senate on Wednesday approved controversial legislation to overhaul abortion clinic operations in Pennsylvania that was driven exclusively by the alleged murderous activities of a Philadelphia doctor. The bill, which passed the House on Tuesday, cleared the Senate on a 32-18 vote and goes to Gov. Corbett for his signature. Spokesman Kevin Harley did not respond to a question about whether Corbett would sign the bill, but a number of lawmakers said on the House and Senate floor that he would.