Pennsylvania Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priorities Act (HB 1870)

HB 1870 would have reprioritized the distribution of public funds for family planning and reproductive health-care in an effort to direct money away from abortion clinics (i.e., Planned Parenthood) and toward hospitals and other kinds of family planning clinics that don’t provide abortions.

The bill would have prohibited the Department of Health from entering into a contract with or making a grant to any entity which performs abortions that are not federally qualified abortions (i.e., an abortion qualified for federal matching funds under the Medicaid program) or maintains or operates a facility where such abortions are performed.

The bill would have put health-care providers that offer abortion services at the bottom of the priority list for state funding, virtually ensuring that such groups would receive no funding.

STATUS

This bill, which is based on model legislation drafted by SBA List and Alliance Defense Fund, failed to pass. A similar bill (HB 2800) was enacted in Arizona in 2012 but was blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in August 2013. On February 24, 2014, the Supreme Court rejected a request by Arizona to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.

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People

Organizations

• Alliance Defending Freedom — Drafted Model Law
• Susan B. Anthony List — Drafted Model Law