When Governor Wolf delivered his budget address at the Capitol, he only shared the highlights, the proverbial tip of the iceberg. There’s just not enough time to go line by line and explain everything that he or any other governor is asking for.
There was one item in particular that was not mentioned in the address, but has been gaining a great deal of attention ever since the printed version was released. It’s $3-million in funding under the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services for “access to reproductive healthcare.”
That’s the extent of the description.
“It’s very suspicious to me,” said Sen. Judy Ward (R-Blair, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon), who is staunchly pro-life and noticed the budget entry immediately. I talked to her immediately after the Governor’s address. “There was no detail given on that but it’s something that many of us are going to be looking at very closely. I’m very fearful. That’s a red flag for me.”
In the meantime pro-life advocates have expressed concerns that it’s money that is ticketed for Planned Parenthood to help offset cuts in federal funding. The Trump Administration in 2019 enacted rule changes on the federal family planning program.
The Governor has been very much in favor of abortion rights and recently issued a not-so-subtle veto of the Down Syndrome Protection Act that was passed by the legislature last year.
