The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference is reporting that the state's House of Representatives passed the new law on Tuesday by an overwhelming 151-44 vote. The bill cleared the Senate yesterday on a 32-18 vote just hours before the chamber adjourned for the holidays. It now goes to Governor Tom Corbett for his signature.
"The measure will hold abortion facilities to the same fire and safety standards, personnel and equipment requirements, and quality assurance procedures as other freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities," the Conference said in a press release.
Some of the newly passed regulations will require clinics to have hospital-grade elevators, bigger operating rooms, and parking lots and driveways that can be accessed by ambulances. They will also be required to have a registered nurse on staff.
Opponents of the bill say the changes mandated by the law could force many of the state's 22 abortion clinics to close, but lawmakers were unable to forget the "house of horrors" discovered in a filthy West Philadelphia clinic last summer where aborted fetuses were found in jars and one woman lost her life. The abortionist, Kermit Gosnell, was indicted by a Philadelphia grand jury last January in the deaths of one adult and seven late-term babies who were delivered alive and then killed by severing their spinal cords with a scissor. The clinic was also staffed with unlicensed workers who were allegedly administering anesthesia and other medical services to patients.
To the embarrassment of the state's department of health, the grand jury report revealed years of inaction by city and state government officials, who turned a blind eye not only to Gosnell’s clinics but also to the abortion industry throughout Pennsylvania. More than 15 years passed without a single inspection of an abortion clinic in Pennsylvania.
“The grand jury report stated that customers of nail salons had more protections under Pennsylvania law than did women at abortion centers," said Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute. "That special protection for the abortion industry was wrong, it led to many deaths, and finally now is being addressed.”
One of the most moving moments in the passage of the bill was when Rep. Margo Davidson (D-Delaware County) recorded her "yes" vote on the bill to the memory of her cousin, Semika Shaw, who died of sepsis two days after having an abortion at Gosnell's clinic.
"Today I honor her memory by voting yes on this legislation, that seeks to safeguard the health of women, that is long overdue, so that never again will a woman walk into a licensed health care facility in the State of Pennsylvania and be butchered as she was. Today I thank the members of this House that supported this legislation for the safety of women."
Once the bill has been signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett (R), abortion clinics will have six months to comply with the new regulations.
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