PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia City Council committee on Thursday advanced a package of three bills designed to protect abortion providers and patients, in the wake of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
One prohibits discrimination based on reproductive health decisions so an anti-abortion employer, for instance, couldn’t fire someone for having the procedure.
Another allows Philadelphians to countersue if they’re targeted by someone from a state that allows vigilante-style lawsuits to stop abortions.
The third would restrict the disclosure of reproductive health information, again to blunt laws in states with abortion bans that punish patients seeking the procedure elsewhere.
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The procedure is legal in all of Pennsylvania, but states such as Texas not only prohibit abortion but seek to punish women who get the procedure in other states, allowing citizens to turn them in and sue providers who help them.
“Here’s our message to governors like Greg Abbott in Texas and anyone else who seeks to criminalize women and thinks they can control our city: Not on our watch,” said Councilmember Helen Gym, the bill’s sponsor.
The witnesses all urged passage of the bills.
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Some of the most dramatic testimony came from Drexel professor Mary Ebeling, who described how her information was shared, despite HIPAA protections.
“Purloined information about the fact that I was trying to get pregnant gleaned from my phone, my credit card, my loyalty card used at pharmacies, my IP address, and other private sources,” said Eberling.
She added that her information was sold to marketers to sell her baby items, recalling how a sample of formula arrived the day she learned she miscarried.
Eberling warned of a larger potential.
“If marketers can buy my data, so can anti-abortion activists or vigilantes, or officers from other districts where abortion is illegal,” she said.
Only committee member David Oh questioned the bills’ legality.
“How does a City Council ordinance stand up legally when most of the issues that we’re talking about appear to be state law issues?” he asked.
Despite clear misgivings, Oh voted to advance the bills, and they passed the committee unanimously.
The bills now go to the full Council.