HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania state Senate approved five proposed constitutional amendments Friday afternoon, including one that would declare Pennsylvanians do not have any rights “relating to an abortion,” as well as another to require voters to provide government ID to cast a ballot.
The Senate approved the amendment after hours of debate Friday morning by a vote of 28-22.
This debate began late Thursday night, after a state Senate committee advanced these amendments. Senate Democrats expressed their anger late Thursday for the late committee vote, which they said occurred with little notice and after many Pennsylvania residents were asleep.
The House planned to approve this measure later Friday. Both chambers would need to approve the resolution again next year before it appears as a ballot question to the voters, which could be as early as the 2023 primary election.
The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Judy Ward, a Blair Republican, said Thursday night that her amendment proposal would not ban abortions in the state, and reasserted that the state's Abortion Control Act would remain in place.
State Sen. Scott Martin, a Lancaster Republican, noted on the Senate floor Friday that Ward’s amendment was inspired by an ongoing court case in the state, where members of the state Supreme Court could potentially rule that abortion is a constitutional right in the state. This constitutional amendment, in turn, would put the Legislature and governor in control over whether abortion is legal in the state.
The amendment would not outright ban abortions in Pennsylvania. Abortions will remain accessible to people in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks of a pregnancy, per the state’s Abortion Control Act.
If Pennsylvania voters approved this constitutional amendment, however, it could pave the way for legislators to ban abortions, said state Sen. Judy Schwank, a Berks County Democrat, during the Senate debate Friday.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has vowed to veto any legislation that would change current abortion law during the remaining months of his tenure as governor, set to expire at the end of November.
Whoever becomes the next governor of Pennsylvania would get the veto pen. If the Legislature tried to upend the state laws protecting abortion access in the state — just as multiple states have done since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month — the next governor would decide whether those could become law.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Attorney General Josh Shapiro has promised to veto any legislation if he is elected in November. Republican gubernatorial nominee Sen. Doug Mastriano has supported strict abortion bans, hoping to ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
In addition to the abortion amendment proposal, the state Senate approved four other potential amendments that could go before the voters as soon as May 2023:
—Require voters to provide a government ID to vote in the state.
—Require gubernatorial candidates to choose their own running mate for lieutenant governor — instead of running separately, as they do now.
—Require the state auditor general to audit elections.
—Require legislative approval when a governor seeks regulatory changes.
Senate Democrats also protested the voter ID provisions in the omnibus resolution passed Friday. State Sen. Sharif Street, a Philadelphia Democrat, said the state’s lowest income residents are the most likely not to have a government-issued ID, thus potentially disenfranchising poor voters.
However, Senate Republicans noted that ID is frequently needed in a person’s everyday life, and should not be a burden to voters to provide. The amendment would also allow voters to request a government-issued ID, free of charge.
“Identification and the need to provide it is one of the most common things we have to do in our society today,” said state Sen. Joe Pittman, an Indiana Republican, during Friday’s debate.
