Pennsylvania, The Keystone State, will no longer give money to pro-life therapy centers, even though it has done so for almost 30 years.
This week, Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said that after almost 30 years, the bipartisan deal with the pro-life nonprofit Real Alternatives will end while he is in charge, according to a report by Fox News.
Pennsylvania, The Keystone State, will no longer give money to pro-life therapy centers, even though it has done so for almost 30 years.
This week, Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said that after almost 30 years, the bipartisan deal with the pro-life nonprofit Real Alternatives will end while he is in charge.
Real Alternatives was hired in the 1990s by then-Gov. Bob Casey, Sr., a pro-life Democrat, when the Keystone State decided to pay for both abortion providers like Planned Parenthood and organizations that offer options to abortion.
Real Alternatives gives federal and state money to pro-life organizations like Catholic Charities, maternity homes, and therapy centers every year.
Last year, Real Alternatives gave almost $7 million to 70 pregnancy centers in Pennsylvania that support life.
In a release, the group said that 350,000 women from all over the state had come to its offices 1.9 million times.
Shapiro said in a statement that he strongly supported the right to an abortion and that his government would not "continue that pattern" of funding. Shapiro said, "We will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve."
The director of the St. Margaret of Castello Maternity Home, Eileen Artysh, told The Associated Press that the center will not last as long because of the cut in funds.
Artysh said that most of the women who come to her nursing home are planning to have a baby.
"Until there’s that last penny left, I’m in this for the long haul," Artysh said. "And the moms that we help — I can’t imagine deserting any of them."
Governors of Pennsylvania, both Democrats and Republicans, have kept the deal in place for almost 30 years.
Shapiro's plan to stop giving money to pro-life therapy centers comes at a time when states all over the country are fighting over how to limit abortions.
A Texas judge ruled on Friday that the state's abortion ban is too hard on women who are having major problems with their pregnancies. The judge said that the law needs to make exceptions so that doctors don't have to worry about being charged with a crime.
State District Judge Jessica Mangrum's decision is the first to make a dent in Texas's abortion law since it went into effect last year. This is because Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, which gave states the right to make their own abortion laws.
