In March, Politico’s Maggie Haberman speculated that the upcoming gubernatorial race between Pennsylvania Republican Governor Tom Corbett and his likely Democratic challenger, U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz, may be the next front in the so-called “war on women.”
Haberman noted, however, that Schwartz won’t be sounding the charge herself. And there’s a good reason for that.
For over a decade, Schwartz was the executive director of an abortion clinic in Philadelphia, the Elizabeth Blackwell Women’s Health Center. Under her direction, the clinic — which is now run by Planned Parenthood — provided first-trimester abortions, as evidenced by a lawsuit it was a party to in 1995.
This matters because the governor of Pennsylvania has the power to enforce — or not enforce — abortion regulations. One of Corbett’s predecessors, the pro-choice Republican Tom Ridge, didn’t enforce laws mandating abortion clinic inspections. That’s part of the reason Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell was able to get away with killing as many as several hundred babies that had survived late-term abortions. (This week, Gosnell was convicted of murdering three newborn infants. He was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter of one patient.) Inspections would have stopped Gosnell and his staff in their tracks, but the facility avoided inspection for 17 years!
This is the real “war on women.”
Fortunately, Governor Corbett signed into law abortion clinic regulations in the wake of the grand jury report on Gosnell’s crimes.
But how would Allyson Schwartz, a former abortion clinic director, have handled Gosnell? Would Schwartz, like Ridge, turn a blind eye to the abortion business of which she was once a part?
The evidence suggests that she would, and reveals why she’s loath to sound the “war on women” siren.
Allyson Schwartz has a 0 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee. In her eight years in Congress, she’s taken the pro-abortion position on legislation 34 times.
She voted to allow late-term abortions at and after 20 weeks, the point at which scientific evidence suggests an unborn child can feel intense pain, even though polling commissioned by the National Right to Life Committee found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support legislation to end post-fetal pain abortions.
She voted against banning abortions if the sole reason is the gender of the baby, even though polling has found that 77 percent of Americans and 80 percent of women support banning sex-selective abortion.
She voted for taxpayer funding of America’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, and for taxpayer funding of abortion in the Affordable Care Act, even though polling routinely shows a strong majority of Americans (72 percent according to Quinnipiac University) oppose the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion in Obamacare.
She voted against protecting underage girls from being taken across state lines by nonparents for abortions — skirting Pennsylvania’s parental involvement laws — even though Gallup polling has found that 71 percent of Americans support parents’ right to give or refuse consent to their minor daughters’ abortions.
Even Democrats acknowledge her extreme positions.
In a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story titled “Allyson Schwartz’s political baggage worries some Democrats,” the paper notes: “The concern mentioned most often: Not only does Schwartz strongly support abortion rights, but before entering politics, she ran a Philadelphia women’s health clinic where abortions were performed.”
Pennsylvanians on all sides can agree: Allyson Schwartz and her extreme positions don’t belong in the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is the president of the Susan B. Anthony List. Michael Geer is the president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
