Governor Tom Wolf has issued a statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, the decades-old decision which legalized abortion nationwide.
The court did so while considering a case out of Mississippi where the state attempted to ban abortion after 15 weeks. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito delivered the majority opinion. The actual opinion came weeks after Politico published a leaked draft opinion indicating justices were indeed ready to strike down Roe.
At the time of Politico’s article, Governor Tom Wolf issued a statement saying that as long as he was in office as Governor, abortions would remain legal in Pennsylvania. In a statement released today, Governor Wolf said that abortion services are “available and unharmed” in Pennsylvania, but that he was deeply disappointed by the court’s decision. He said “The right to bodily autonomy – and privacy as a whole – is under attack in this country” and that more has to be done to protect abortion rights and the rights of women and pregnant people in every state. The governor has vetoed three different anti-abortion bills and said he will continue to do so.
Meanwhile, Bishop Larry Kulick of the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg has issued his first ever pastoral letter focusing on this topic. He writes that the Catholic Church since the beginning has upheld the sanctity of human life and that stance has not changed. He said that asserting those teachings is one of his most important responsibilities.
To read the bishop’s full letter, click on the link below:
