Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster) thinks the time is right to bring forth more pro-life legislation in Harrisburg. He was thinking about the better-than-expected showing in this election for Republican candidates in the House and Senate.
“We gained three new members so we have a larger caucus,” Zimmerman told me on a visit to his Capitol office this week. “I think we should run some pro-life legislation. “
He mentioned bills that were introduced and debated in recent years, including the “Heartbeat Bill,” the “Down Syndrome Protection Act,” and Senate Bill 3, the measure dealing with ‘dismemberment abortion.’
“We passed that in the House and Senate and the Governor vetoed it, so I think we should do that again,” Zimmerman said of SB 3. “I think we should do that early this session, early this year and then the other one we did was the Down syndrome bill that was also vetoed. I think we should run that again.”
Critics would say that the Governor is only going to veto such bills again. That point has been brought up by Democrats on the House and Senate floor on a number of issues.
“Even if that’s the case, I think we should do it because it’s the right thing to do and then, even if the Governor does veto it, we gear it up for a session beyond this Governor’s term and hopefully we have a governor that is pro-life and we can get it passed. But I think we need to keep coming back. Our members are with us, we need to keep working on good legislation like this.”
Zimmerman said it sounds like the newly elected Republican lawmakers are even more conservative than their predecessors, so the pro-life sentiment in Harrisburg might be even stronger.
