Reproductive Rights Resolution Tabled By Newtown Township Supervisors

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The national debate over a woman’s right to choose landed on
the agenda of the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors on Sept. 14.

After learning that the board was considering passage of a resolution supporting abortion, pro life advocates jammed into the meeting room to try to convince the supervisors to change their minds.

In July, reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, supervisor Elen Snyder proposed a resolution asking state lawmakers to support a right to choose and to fight against any attempt to change that.

Supervisor Kyle Davis objected to the resolution arguing that the issue of abortion and a woman’s right is not within the purview of the board of supervisors under state law.

Many of the 20 or so speakers at the Sept. 14 meeting agreed, calling on the board to withdraw the resolution.

“A resolution to allow abortion does not fit the narrative of this beautiful community. We are better than this and quite honest we don’t need to get ourselves involved in this resolution,” said a resident.

“Newtown supervisors were not voted into office to make state and federal resolutions for Newtown residents,” added Joanne Miller of Newtown Grant. “You are welcome to your opinions and I urge you to make your personal points at the state level, but you don’t speak for me. You’re
not in a position to be making these types of recommendations. You were voted in to take care of our township.”

Resident John Griffin asked, “If there were four Republicans on there and the Republicans said let’s do a resolution supporting pro life, would you be for it?Would you think that’s the role of your government?” he asked.

Others spoke about their religious beliefs, some shared personal stories of adoption and having an abortion and others equated abortion with “cold blooded” murder.

After hearing more than an hour’s worth of public comment, Davis motioned to table the resolution.

Supervisor John Mack second the motion saying that he’d like to hear from the other side before taking a vote.

After wrestling with the motion, chairman Dennis Fisher added the third vote needed to table the resolution until the board’s next meeting.

Supervisor Elen Snyder joined Supervisor Phil Calabro in voting against the motion to table.

“No right ever given by the government, the Constitution and our lawmakers has ever been taken away before. That makes this an unprecedented event,” said Snyder. “And an unprecedented event calls for unprecedented action.

“We are not making laws. We are simply supporting the laws as they already exist,” she said. “The law exists in Pennsylvania right now that abortions are legal up to the 23rd week. We are certainly not talking about late term abortion. We’re talking about the right as it already exists in PA law. We simply want our lawmakers to support women’s rights as they already exist.”

While the board voted to table the resolution until its next meeting, there’s enough votes on the board to pass the motion.

Prior to voting to table, Fisher voiced his support for the resolution, but agreed with Mack that more voices needed to be heard before a vote is taken.

The following is the resolution scheduled to be voted on at the next supervisors' meeting:

A Resolution of the Township of Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, affirming the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors' commitment to valuing reproductive rights and supporting access to abortion

WHEREAS, Newtown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania (the “Township”) recognizes that dignity and bodily autonomy are closely connected to the ability to access reproductive healthcare, including abortions, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which previously prevented individual states from directly banning abortion; and

WHEREAS, the Township condemns any proposition by the Pennsylvania General Assembly or Congress of the United States that seeks to restrict access to abortions; and

WHEREAS, the Township honors a person’s right to bodily autonomy, dignity and control over private medical decisions; and

WHEREAS, access to safe and legal abortion is a deciding factor in long-term health, safety, and quality of life; and

WHEREAS, eliminating legal access to abortion has been empirically proven to dramatically increase the risk of death, bodily injury, and infertility, especially within low-income communities and communities of color; and

WHEREAS, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Physicians for Reproductive Health issued a joint statement in 2019 indicating that termination of a pregnancy in the form of abortion may be necessary to save a pregnant person’s life; and

WHEREAS, the Township recognizes that systematically stripping women of access to abortion violates basic human reproductive rights; and

WHEREAS, the Township is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of its residents; and

WHEREAS, the Township supports codifying the right to an abortion into federal law.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Board of Supervisors of Newtown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania hereby affirms and commits to supporting access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, and condemning any act by the Pennsylvania General Assembly or Congress of the United States to restricting access to that care.