Allegheny County councilmember looks to put laws on the books to protect abortion access

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — Tensions remain high across the nation nearly two weeks after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“We are currently in uncharted waters here,” said Allegheny County Councilman Tom Duerr.

After hearing from residents, Duerr is looking to put laws on the books to protect abortion access.

“We are simply saying given that we set the budget and approve your budget that you deemphasize any assistance with any abortion criminalization investigation,” Duerr said.

That’s the first bill Duerr plans to introduce at Tuesday’s meeting targeting law enforcement if abortion were to become illegal in our state.

The second bill that he’s calling a trigger law, would immediately go into effect if abortion access decisions were given to individual counties.

“This is different than the state, this protects abortion access for all pregnant patients in first trimester, second trimester and third with the asterisks that the third trimester it’s if the pregnant person’s physical or mental health is in danger from the pregnancy,” Duerr said.

Duerr told Channel 11 that these bills are not forcing anyone to get abortions, but rather giving the choice back to women.

Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation said that local counties need to focus on family planning rather than abortion, and it does not agree with any bills brought up by County Council.

“The pro-life movement does not believe in criminalizing abortion and punishing women. However, we do want the doctors who perform these if such a ban is enacted in PA to be held accountable,” said Bonnie Finnerty with Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.

Duerr already has several co-sponsors on both bills and believes there will be enough support to pass them. The next step will be to send the bills to the committee.

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