After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

Pennsylvania

Abortion will likely remain accessible in Pennsylvania, but without legal protection. The current governor is supportive of abortion rights, but numerous medically unnecessary restrictions make it difficult to access abortion care in the state.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 24-week LMP
  • Reason Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Restrictions

Pennsylvania law prohibits abortion at twenty-four weeks LMP.1 It also prohibits abortions sought for reasons of sex.2 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period and biased counseling.3 Pennsylvania also limits public funding for,4 and private insurance coverage of, abortion,5 though a challenge to the public funding limitation is being heard in state court.6 Pennsylvania law generally requires that a parent, legal guardian,7 or judge8 consent to a minor’s abortion.

Pennsylvania’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities9 and reporting.10 Pennsylvania law restricts the provision of abortion care to physicians.11 Providers who violate Pennsylvania’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.12

State Protections

Pennsylvania does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, Pennsylvania’s stated policy preference is to ban abortion to the fullest extent of the law: “[i]n every relevant civil or criminal proceeding in which it is possible to do so without violating the Federal Constitution, the common and statutory law of Pennsylvania shall be construed so as to extend to the unborn the equal protection of the laws and to further the public policy of this Commonwealth encouraging childbirth over abortion.”13 On July 12, 2022, the Pennsylvania governor issued an executive order that 1) prohibits, unless required by court order, executive branch cooperation with out-of-state investigations and legal actions (including extradition) arising from the lawful provision of abortion in Pennsylvania; 2) directs executive agencies  to work with boards of professional licensure to protect abortion providers from disqualification or discipline for providing or assisting with reproductive health care provision; and 3)  requires executive agencies to take steps to educate the public on reproductive health care services offered in the state. 14

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Pennsylvania’s pre-Roe ban was held unconstitutional in Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases following Roe15 and explicitly repealed in 1974.16

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will likely remain accessible in Pennsylvania, but without legal protection. The current governor is supportive of abortion rights, but numerous medically unnecessary restrictions make it difficult to access abortion care in the state.

  1. 18 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7u00a7 3211(a), 3203. ↩︎
  2. Id. u00a7 3204(c). ↩︎
  3. 28 PA. CODE u00a7 29.37(b); 18 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7 3205(a)(1)-(2). ↩︎
  4. 18 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7 3215(c). ↩︎
  5. Id. u00a7 3215(e). ↩︎
  6. Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pa. Depu2019t of Hum. Services, No. 26 MAP 2021 (Pa. Jan. 29, 2024) (reversing an order from the Commonwealth Court that sustained preliminary objections and dismissed the petition for review. The order also stated that providers have standing and their petition is legally sufficient to survive demurrer). ↩︎
  7. Id. u00a7 3206(a). ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a7 3206(c). ↩︎
  9. 35 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7 448.806(h); 28 PA. CODE u00a7 29.43(a). ↩︎
  10. 18 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7 3214(a)(1). ↩︎
  11. Id. u00a7 3204 (a). ↩︎
  12. See, e.g., id. u00a7 3217; id. u00a7 3211(d). ↩︎
  13. Id. u00a7 3202(c). ↩︎
  14. P.A. Exec. Order, No. 2022-01 (Jul. 12, 2022) ↩︎
  15. Com. v. Page, 451 Pa. 331, 336, 303 A.2d 215, 217 (1973); Com. v. Jackson, 454 Pa. 429, 430, 312 A.2d 13, 13 (1973). ↩︎
  16. 18 PA. CONS. STAT. u00a7u00a7 4718, 4719, repealed by 1974 Pa. Laws 639, 642 Act No. 209, u00a7 10. ↩︎