Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is cutting millions in taxpayer funding to a pro-life program that supports counseling and housing for pregnant women.
In a statement, Shapiro said his administration will not “continue that pattern” of supporting the pro-life organization and will instead work to promote abortion.
“We will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve,” he said.
She added that many pregnant women who come to the maternity home have already decided against aborting their babies.
“Until there’s that last penny left, I’m in this for the long haul,” she said. “And the moms that we help — I can’t imagine deserting any of them.”
Pennsylvania was the first state to begin an “abortion alternative program” in the mid-’90s, according to the report.
“Helmed by then-Gov. Bob Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat, the state began funding alternatives in tandem with a preexisting program that subsidized Planned Parenthood’s services for women’s health,” the report states. “The funding for both programs had continued under both Republican and Democratic governors in the years since.”
Alyssa MacAfee, 26, told the outlet she was helped by St. Margaret’s in Pennsylvania when she found herself homeless, jobless, in early recovery, and pregnant. She came to the maternity home when she was six months pregnant and stayed until her daughter was around five months old.
“Everyone was definitely looking at my situation like, ‘You cannot bring a baby into the world right now,’ but I knew that I wanted to,” she said.
MacAfee said she was able to get a job and an apartment after leaving the maternity home, which still provides her with some diapers, and called it “the biggest blessing life has ever given me.”
Defunding the program was a top priority for Democrats in the state and has been praised by the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood PA Advocates. Now, the Shapiro administration is looking to send $8 million in state subsidies “to other women’s health providers,” according to the report.
“It’s sad because this is a great program, and you take this program away, abortions will substantially increase in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Kevin Bagatta, president and CEO of Real Alternatives.