Tell PA Senators to oppose anti-abortion constitutional amendment Senate Bill 956

I’m writing to urge you to oppose anti-abortion constitutional amendment Senate Bill 956, a radical, medically dangerous proposition that seeks to give zygotes paramount rights over the pregnant person as “the policy of Pennsylvania.”

Medical experts warn criminalizing abortion would increase maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Criminal justice experts warn criminalizing abortion will lead to a wave of mass incarceration unseen since the failed war on drugs.

Black Pennsylvanians, low-income pregnant Pennsylvanians, and Pennsylvanians from marginalized communities—populations not well-represented in the Pennsylvania Legislature—will bear the brunt of the immense cost of the baseless fiction that criminalizing abortion ends abortion.

If Roe falls, efforts like SB956 are predicted to cause the maternal mortality rate to rise at least 21 percent. The expected 21% increased maternal mortality estimate is solely based on increased pregnancy and childbirth.

Here in Pennsylvania, maternal mortality already rose more than 21% in the last five-year snapshot report, with Black women accounting for 23% of those deaths despite comprising only 14% of the population.

Additionally, such a policy would likely interfere with miscarriage management, treatment for ectopic pregnancies, and reproductive-assistance technologies like IVF.

We urge you to advance policies to protect the health and economic security of pregnant people and parents in Pennsylvania rather than a bill designed to deprive Pennsylvanians of bodily autonomy at the cost of increased maternal death, increased government intrusion into healthcare, and increased mass incarceration.