Shapiro Removes Life-Saving Choices for PA Mothers
Recently, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced a radical move: the Commonwealth will not renew the contract that funds Real Alternatives, a pregnancy and parenting support service with over 80 community-based service providers across the state.
Gov. Shapiro has a history of advancing pro-abortion policies, and now he plans to eliminate funding for free support and life-saving resources that benefit expectant mothers and families in need. He claims, “Pennsylvanians made clear by electing me as Governor that they support a woman’s freedom to choose, and I will be steadfast in defending that right.”
How can Shapiro call himself a proponent for “a woman’s freedom to choose” when he’s removing options for life-affirming choices?
Nearly three decades ago, the Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services Program was established by then Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey, Sr., a Democrat, and administered by Real Alternatives, to provide core services consisting of information, education, and counseling that promotes childbirth, and, as Gov. Casey put it, “to fight the poison of hopelessness with love.”
By failing to renew the Commonwealth’s contract with Real Alternatives, Shapiro will break the 27-year long arrangement that benefitted women and families across the state, in the name of “choice.” He will funnel over $9 million away from life-affirming providers and into the hands of abortion providers, undermining the program’s original intent.
Real Alternatives’ centers empower women to choose life, and they provide support, compassion, and resources to women and their unborn children. Of its 83 service providers in Pennsylvania, 40 are social service providers, including Catholic charities; 31 are pregnancy support centers; and 12 are maternity homes. Services provided at no cost through these providers include confidential counseling and mentoring, pregnancy self-test kits, free clothing, access to food and furniture pantries, shelter, childbirth and parenting classes, referrals to other community agencies and medical resources, and assistance with education and career decisions.
During Real Alternatives’ three decades of operation in Pennsylvania, nearly 350,000 clients have been served. These clients have included vulnerable women who would otherwise be alone and scared, lacking proper help during their pregnancy. They have also included men with no experience being a father and unborn children with a right to a life full of potential.
As Gov. Shapiro removes life-saving choices from Pennsylvania’s mothers and families, other pro-abortion politicians across the country are working to shut down community-based centers like Real Alternatives and put an end to the life-affirming, compassionate care they offer. In the past year alone, at least 26 bills have been introduced by pro-abortion state lawmakers that seek to regulate pregnancy care centers in ways that could effectively close them down.
The abortion lobby is working to shut down roughly 3,000 pregnancy care centers and maternity homes across the nation. All exist to offer resources and support for women and their children, born and unborn. These centers are even more critical when considering that over 60% of women report feeling pressure to abort from a male partner, from family members, or due to financial difficulty or other factors.
Expectant mothers should be provided with life-affirming options, free of coercion, no matter their circumstances or position in life. Real Alternatives and other similar centers provide hope and resources so women can choose life with clear minds and full hearts.
Pregnancy care centers stand as a beacon of hope and healing for countless expectant mothers and families in need. They offer meaningful opportunities for new jobs, education, and addiction recovery so that women and men can make a fresh start, setting them up for promising futures with their children. No one, not even powerful politicians like Gov. Shapiro, should stand in the way of the care these people deserve.
