Press
The Erie Times-News' website, Go-Erie.com, recently featured some quotes from my blog in an article by Matthew Rink about the local candidates' and incumbents' stances on the overturning of Roe v. Wade. While some candidates are personally against abortion, they recognize the right to choose, such as Bob Merski (HD-2) who said, "I don't think we live in a theocracy, and we have to afford people the ability to make individual moral choices with their faith provider and their doctor." Others are staunchly against abortion in all forms and for all reasons, including rape, incest, the health of the fetus, and the health of the mother. State Senator Michele Brooks (SD-50) has proposed senate bill 956 in order to "circumvent the veto pen" which would add an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that is an all-out ban on abortion services and cannot be vetoed by the Governor.
Below are the candidates' and incumbents' stances summed up as pro- or anti-choice based on how they say they will vote. Candidates/incumbents who have both pro- and anti-choice listed have mixed messages on the issues, or have voted differently on separate bills.
Dan Laughlin (R, PA-SD49): pro-choice/anti-choice
Bob Merski (D, PA-HD2): pro-choice/anti-choice
Doug Mastriano (R, PA-SD33 and candidate for governor): anti-choice
Josh Shapiro (D, PA Attorney General and candidate for governor): pro-choice
Curt Sonney (R, PA-HD4) anti-choice
Parke Wentling (R, PA-HD17) anti-choice
Brad Roae (R, PA-HD6) anti-choice
Pat Harkins (D, PA-HD1) pro-choice
Ryan Bizzarro (D, PA-HD3 pro-choice
Michele Brooks (R, PA-SD50) anti-choice
Kathy Rapp (R, PA-HD65) anti-choice
Joe Kujawa (R, candidate PA-HD3) anti-choice
Jake Banta (R, candidate PA-HD4) pro-choice/antichoice
Chelsea Oliver (D, candidate PA-HD4) pro-choice
Nerissa Galt (D, candidate PA-HD6) pro-choice
Photo from Go-Erie.com article
Since the article is for subscribers only, please read this excerpt featuring my views:
" Galt, who's running against Roae in the 6th Legislative District, wrote extensively on the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade in a campaign website post titled "A cataclysmic, ruinous decision." Galt recounted learning when 38 weeks pregnant that her unborn son's heart had stopped beating and how she had to "give birth to death."
"I labored with my son and gave birth as my last chance to mother him the way I had planned," she wrote. "My family still mourns this loss and wonders what he would be."
But what Galt and others like her have gone through, "can be extremely dangerous, possibly preventing further pregnancies, or even causing infection and eventually death. The body doesn't always do what it is supposed to do, or so many pregnancies wouldn't end in loss," she wrote.
Access to abortion should be a right, she continued: "Autonomy over our bodies is vital to the human condition. Any argument against abortion is not based on science and medical knowledge."
She urged people to put themselves in the shoes of a person who is impregnated by an abusive partner, or who is raped, or who is too young to care for the child, or someone like her, "who has just learned that all her hopes and dreams for a child are now gone and now choices must be made."
"These things shouldn't be legislated," Galt wrote." My opponent could not be reached for comment.