fireside chat<\/a>,\u201d the justices called for judicial independence and said they apply the law fairly, even when outcomes are unpopular.\n<\/p>\n\u201cWhen we put that black robe on, we hung up that partisan title,\u201d Justice Dougherty said.\n<\/p>\n
Also joining the fray is the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, which is calling on voters to vote against the justices, based on their positions on abortion, infanticide and euthanasia.\n<\/p>\n
Executive Director Maria Gallagher also argues that the issue is beyond partisanship but that the three justices are \u201con the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the law.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see people protected and their lives protected under the law and, unfortunately, those three candidates have been labeled very pro-abortion and they are not going to be protective of the rights of the most vulnerable among us and, therefore, we are urging a \u2018no\u2019 vote on them,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
Gallagher added that the state is far from prohibiting abortion since the governor and Pennsylvania House of Representatives are currently \u201cpro-abortion.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven those two factors, it unfortunately is very difficult to pass legislation protective of preborn children and their mothers,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
However, she added \u201cthere is hope that eventually the situation in Pennsylvania will change\u201d and when \u201cthat day comes,\u201d it will be important to have a state Supreme Court that won\u2019t overrule legislative efforts to restrict abortion.\n<\/p>\n
Reproductive health<\/p>\n
Dr. Jessica Geida, an OBGYN in Philadelphia offered real-life examples of what patients could face if abortion were restricted or criminalized, including that of \u201cEmily,\u201d who is \u201cthrilled about her first pregnancy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd unfortunately, the anatomy scan shows that there\u2019s severe fetal anomalies that are incompatible with life,\u201d Geida said. \u201cOn top of that, Emily\u2019s blood pressure is increasing. She gets diagnosed with early but severe preeclampsia \u2026 Ending the pregnancy is an act of love and self-preservation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Geida and other physicians emphasized that reproductive health goes beyond abortion alone and other aspects may also be at risk, including contraception, fertility care, safe childbirth, postpartum care and the ability to manage complex conditions like preeclampsia, diabetes or heart disease during pregnancy. It also encompasses screenings for cervical cancer, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and counseling around family planning. For many patients, abortion and other reproductive health care is connected to other aspects of well-being \u2014 mental health, economic stability and chronic disease management.\n<\/p>\n
Haidar added that the makeup of the state Supreme Court has implications for many other areas of healthcare not related to reproductive rights at all, including protection against predatory billing practices or \u201cif insurers and hospitals can continue to saddle families with crushing medical debt.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also decide on cases when it comes to medical billing disputes, Medicaid coverage \u2013 which I think everyone\u2019s aware is under threat imminently \u2013 patient privacy rights, what\u2019s going on with trans patients and protection from unfair insurance practices,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are things that are going to have direct implications on the day-to-day life and the health and wellbeing \u2014 and honestly, freedom \u2014 of Pennsylvanians. The Pa. Supreme Court has behaved as a safeguard against the threats to our healthcare and other systems that are coming from the federal level.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania retention election fight That has built higher stakes in this election. Haidar said that the Dobbs case…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":289460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3789,89694,210,1141,1142,2830,148632,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-289459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-elections-2025","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-pennsylvania-supreme-court","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115344727441338741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}