In late September of 2022, Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Tom Wolf filed a Commonwealth Court lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s Republican led legislature. Wolf’s case is a response to the Legislature’s five proposed amendments, made in July, to the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Wolf administration opposes multiple aspects of these amendment, especially, in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022. One of the new amendments would bar abortion rights in Pennsylvania.
A quick overview of the five amendments are as follows: a) the nominated party governor may select the lieutenant governor; b) a government issued ID is required to vote; c) the auditor general audits elections; d) the Legislature’s power to reject regulations is expanded; e) the state constitution will not provide the right to abortion and taxpayer funds cannot be used for an abortion. Abortion advocates will no longer be able to dispute restrictions or bans in court.
Wolf holds a history of defending reproductive rights. Since his election to governor in January of 2015, Wolf has vetoed three anti-abortion bills. Furthermore, just this past July, he signed an Executive Order that protects out of state residents who enter Pennsylvania for reproductive health care. Wolf reiterated his commitment to the cause in a July 28th press release: “As long as I remain governor, I will take every step to ensure that abortion remains legal, safe, and accessible in Pennsylvania.”
Before filing his current lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court, Wolf first attempted to expedite it directly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. His administration requested use of the Supreme Court’s “King’s Bench power,” which allows the court to take any case without it being litigated in the state’s lower courts. However, this request was rejected on September 12 and Wolf was redirected to the Commonwealth Court.
The grounds that Wolf’s administration filed both their cases on are largely based around
two central claims. The first claim is that the Legislature combined multiple amendments into a joint
resolution, preventing each amendment from being voted on individually. In the aforementioned
press release, Wolf declared, “The Republican-led General Assembly continues to take
extraordinary steps to dismantle access to abortion.” Wolf believes the merged packaging of these amendments stops the Legislature from being held fully accountable.
Secondly, Wolf’s lawsuit asserts that the abortion amendment violates the right to privacy outlined in Pennsylvania’s constitution. Following the vein that the state constitution protects the ability to make personal health care choices, the legislature’s amendment would thus be unconstitutional.
House Republican Spokesperson Jason Gottesman, responded to Wolf’s actions by calling Wolf a “lame duck governor wasting taxpayer time and resources in court on a ridiculous legal maneuver.” Gottesman continued by saying, “He should spend his final days in office working with, rather than against, the General Assembly to improve our elections, make Pennsylvania more competitive, and further insulate the Commonwealth from his Washington, D.C. allies’ -induced recession.”
If unchallenged, this abortion amendment will essentially eradicate the right to abortion
in Pennsylvania, stopping advocates from challenging bans or restrictions in court. With
Wolf’s second term in office ending this year, the future of abortion rights rests heavily on the
forthcoming November 8 gubernatorial election. Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro, the current
Attorney General of Pennsylvania, has vowed to continue protecting abortion rights. State Senator and Republican nominee Doug Mastriano desires a total abortion ban with no exceptions.
