GOP Rep. Scott Perry dodges questions about bill that would effectively ban abortion

Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry repeatedly dodged questions about his cosponsorship of a bill that would constitute a national abortion ban during an Oct. 8 candidate debate and falsely claimed to have always backed exceptions to bans on the procedure.

During the debate against his Democratic challenger for the seat in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, former television news reporter Janelle Stelson, Perry also falsely claimed that restoring the abortion rights previously guaranteed to all Americans by the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 would lead to taxpayer-funded abortion until the moment of birth.

Perry is seeking a seventh term in the House of Representatives.

Stelson supports reproductive rights. Asked about her position, Stelson said she was outraged about the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, which overturned Roe, and noted: “Scott Perry has sponsored a nationwide abortion ban for years with no exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the woman. And this is a real problem.” 

Perry has repeatedly cosponsored the Life at Conception Act, a bill that would grant full constitutional protections to fetuses and embryos, effectively banning all abortions nationwide without any exceptions and putting in vitro fertilization at risk. The latest version of the bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in January 2023 and remains there.

Reminded by the moderator of his co-sponsorship of that legislation, Perry was asked whether states or the federal government should make decisions about whether to ban abortion. “There are two lives at stake here. … My position … has never changed. I defend vehemently the sanctity of life,” Perry responded. “On abortion, I oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, but I make exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. And that has never changed.”

Asked again about the Life at Conception Act, Perry said: “I also think it’s important as a nation that we stand up for the innocent lives of both the youngest and the old among us. And I think that’s OK, you can do both things at the same time, believe and stand up for the sanctity of life but also allow the states to make their decisions as they should.”

Stelson said she supports legislation to restore and codify the protections that were guaranteed by Roe: “It was precedent for 50 years. I think you codify Roe, it’s one of the first things I’d like to do. And then, I think, government should get out of the abortion business.”

Perry then repeated the same lie that former President Donald Trump has repeatedly used against Democrats who support abortion rights, that Stelson is in favor of abortion through the time of birth.

“That position of being for Roe, understand what that means,” he said. “That means taxpayer-funded abortion for any reason under the sun, including sex selection or disability, up until and including the moment of birth. That’s what my opponent is for. That’s the radical position here.”

The Roe v. Wade decision did not require taxpayers to pay for all abortions at any time, and neither would the Women’s Health Protection Act, the proposed bill to restore its protections. 

Under Roe, abortion was protected until the time a fetus reached the point of viability outside the uterus, and states could restrict it after that as long as they included exceptions for medically necessary abortions.

The ruling did not require public funding, and Congress has banned federal funding for abortion in almost all situations since 1977.