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

Hostile

Pennsylvania

Abortion remains accessible in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, an intermediate appellate court, has held that the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy—the highest court in the state has not weighed in on this ruling. 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: Facilities, Regulation of Location
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

On April 20, 2026, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled that the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy.1 On July 12, 2022, the Pennsylvania governor issued an executive order that, for example, 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 consider whether 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. 2

Restrictions

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.”3

Pennsylvania law prohibits abortion at twenty-four weeks LMP.4 It also prohibits abortions sought for reasons of sex.5 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period and biased counseling.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

Historical Restrictions

Pennsylvania’s pre-Roe ban was held unconstitutional in Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases following Roe13 and explicitly repealed in 1974.14 On April 20, 2026, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court struck down the state’s Medicaid funding ban for abortion care, ruling that the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy and that the Medicaid ban violates the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment and the equal protection provisions.15

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion remains accessible in Pennsylvania. The current governor is supportive of abortion rights, but numerous medically unnecessary restrictions make it difficult to access abortion care in the state.

  1. Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Dep’t of Hum. Servs., 26 M.D. 2019 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2026) (holding that Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy.) ↩︎
  2. P.A. Exec. Order, No. 2022-01 (July 12, 2022), https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/oa/documents/policies/eo/2022-01.pdf.) ↩︎
  3. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3202(c). ↩︎
  4. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3211(a). Note that there are exceptions for when it is necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant person or the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant person. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3211(b). There are also exceptions for terminating pregnancies caused by rape and incest. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3215. ↩︎
  5. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3204(c). ↩︎
  6. 28 Pa. Code § 29.37(b); 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 3205(a)(1)-(2). ↩︎
  7. 18 PA. CONS. STAT. § 3206(a). ↩︎
  8. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3206(c). ↩︎
  9. 35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 448.806(h); 28 Pa. Code § 29.43(a). ↩︎
  10. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3214(a)(1). ↩︎
  11. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3204(a). ↩︎
  12. See, e.g.,18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 3217, 3211(d). ↩︎
  13. Com. v. Page, 451 Pa. 331, 336 (1973); Com. v. Jackson, 454 Pa. 429, 430 (1973). ↩︎
  14. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 4718, 4719, repealed by 1974 Pa. Laws 639, 642, Act No. 209, § 10. ↩︎
  15. Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Dep’t of Hum. Servs., 26 M.D. 2019 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2026); Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Dep’t of Hum. Servs., 309 A.3d 808 (Pa. 2024) (reversing an order from the Commonwealth Court that sustained preliminary objections and dismissed the petition for review, and stating that providers have standing, and their petition is legally sufficient to survive demurrer); see also Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, UCLA Law, https://law.ucla.edu/academics/centers/center-reproductive-health-law-and-policy/history-reproductive-rights-cases/cases/allegheny-reproductive-health-center-v-pennsylvania-department-human-service (last visited Nov. 21, 2025) (noting that at oral argument in early 2025, the state indicated it would no longer defend the coverage exclusion due to the Supreme Court’s opinion). ↩︎