Pennsylvania Rep. Lindsay Powell introduces bill to protect abortion clinics
‘Everyone is able to believe what they want to believe, but your beliefs should not stop someone from getting the care that they deserve,’ Powell said.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Lindsay Powell is urging her fellow lawmakers to support legislation that would protect patients and providers at the state’s reproductive health care clinics.
Powell is the primary sponsor of House Bill 670, which would amend Titles 18 and 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to criminalize blocking or interfering with access to reproductive health facilities.
In a cosponsorship memo published on Jan. 24, Powell said: “The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act is a current federal law that protects the rights of individuals to make their own choices about reproductive health care, particularly by criminalizing obstructions to physically accessing reproductive health care clinics. … In the coming weeks, I plan to introduce a state version of the FACE Act to ensure Pennsylvania can continue to protect the rights of residents seeking reproductive health care.”
Powell published her memo the day after President Donald Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists who had been convicted under the FACE Act on charges of blocking abortion clinic entrances in Washington, D.C., Tennessee, Michigan, and New York City over the past five years.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a statute first signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, prohibits anyone from “intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with” anyone “obtaining or providing reproductive health services.”
If passed, Powell told the Pennsylvania Independent, H.B. 670 would act as a backstop should the Trump administration repeal the federal law.
“This week, we had a rally with several members from across the commonwealth basically uplifting some of the critical pieces of legislation that we believe will continue to protect women’s reproductive rights, including our own H.B. 670,” Powell said.
Powell was joined at the state Capitol on April 7 by several state representatives, Speaker of the House Joanna E. McClinton, and Signe Espinoza, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates.
“I think in this administration, Trump and his team have been unbridled in some of the drastic changes that we know our voters and our constituents don’t want to see, and so rather than waiting for the shoe to drop, we’ve been trying to be aggressively proactive and putting out bills and policies that speak to some of the threats of cuts and underfunding that we’re hearing from the federal level,” Powell said.
Anti-abortion groups have argued that the FACE Act should be repealed, claiming that it violates the First Amendment rights of those who oppose abortion.
Powell says her bill “strikes the balance of allowing free speech” without allowing people to stop someone from getting the care that they need: “It’s really important that in this country, that we continue to uphold that we have different views on this issue. Everyone is able to believe what they want to believe, but your beliefs should not stop someone from getting the care that they deserve.”
Melissa Reed, the CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Keystone, said she’s observed an increase in the number of people protesting at clinics since Trump’s pardon of the anti-abortion activists.
“It is certainly an increase in the number of protesters outside of our health centers, but also, I believe they have become more aggressive in their approaching our health center staff and our patients, in their level of volume outside of our health centers as well,” Reed said.
Reed said she believes that Trump’s recent pardons have emboldened anti-abortion protesters “because of the Trump administration pardoning their previous acts of violence.”
“We went to one of our providers here locally in Pittsburgh and did a tour of the facility, and while we were there, protesters were gathered up front. … People are able to congregate; people are able to say horrible things, bold things. … You have protections of someone who will bail you out of jail, who will commute your sentence. That absolutely pushes people to act outside of the law,” Powell said.
Michael Gibson, communications director for Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, said in an email to the Pennsylvania Independent that he’s concerned protesters could “escalate to physical aggression and violence towards our staff and our patients. We need reliable avenues for reporting violations of our patients’ rights.”
The bill still needs to be passed by the House and the Senate before it makes it to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.
“Our hope is that we do see bipartisan support,” Powell said. “There are Republicans across the commonwealth and across the country that respect a woman and birthing person’s right to make decisions about their own body and their own health care, and we hope that those advocates will stand up and vote for what’s right and pass this bill and send it to the governor’s desk.”
