HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Legislature began Tuesday to advance hot-button bills to restrict abortion rights and expand gun rights, although the bills faced opposition by Democratic lawmakers and certain veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Since he took office in 2015, Wolf has battled the Legislature’s Republican majorities over guns and abortion, vetoing a number of bills on the topics, including two firearms bills as recently as last fall.
On two pieces of abortion legislation that passed the House Health Committee on Tuesday, Wolf vowed a veto and reiterated his support for abortion rights. “While members of the Legislature continue to play politics around health choices, I will not let the commonwealth go backwards on reproductive rights or access to health care,” Wolf said in a statement. “I will veto any anti-choice legislation that lands on my desk.” The bills passed on a party-line basis. One would outlaw abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, possibly as early as six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
It was the first time such a bill has emerged from a committee in Pennsylvania’s Legislature. It carries an exception for when an abortion is medically necessary to protect the mother. The bill is similar to laws in more than a dozen other states, although federal courts have mostly blocked states from enforcing the measures. The other bill would prohibit an abortion on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis. Wolf vetoed something identical in 2019, and such laws have, in past years, been blocked by federal courts in every state where it was challenged.
However, former President Donald Trump’s judicial appointments have begun to change that, and court rulings already have allowed enforcement of the laws in Missouri, Tennessee and Ohio. Pennsylvania law allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy for any reason except to select a gender, with exceptions for rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.
In the House Judiciary Committee, Republicans passed a bill to allow people to carry a loaded firearm openly or concealed, without a permit, and revived legislation to make it easier for people or gun-rights organizations to sue municipalities over firearms ordinances that are stricter than state law.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — WHTM is reporting…The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill that would make to-go cocktails a permanent fixture. In May of 2020, Governor Wolf signed a bill allowing businesses with proper licenses to sell mixed drinks to-go if they suffered an impact in sales due to COVID-19 restrictions. This bill removes the loss requirement in order to make to-go cocktails permanent. “Cocktails to-go have proven to be a critical revenue stream for Pennsylvania businesses during COVID-19, and making this measure permanent will only provide increased stability in the future,” US Distilled Spirits Council Vice-President David Wojnar said. The bill passed by a final vote of 187-14 and now awaits action from the State Senate Law and Justice Committee for consideration.
