Lawmakers consider tightening abortion restrictions

Guests: Michael Geer, Angela Couloumbis, Ann Honebrink and Elizabeth Nash

Lawmakers in Harrisburg are considering tightening restrictions on abortions. The proposal would ban elective abortions after 20 weeks, compared to the current law which stops them at 24 weeks. It would also sharply curtail the use of a medical procedure that terminates second-trimester pregnancies. The controversial legislation is now in limbo. We’ll start out our conversation on the abortion bill (PA House Bill 1948) with MICHAEL GEER, President of the Pennsylvania Family Institute which supports the legislation.  Then ANGELA COULOUMBIS, who covers Pennsylvania State government for the Philadelphia Inquirer, fills us in on where the bill stands in the House.  And we’ll turn to one of the opponents of the legislation, ANN HONEBRINK, Vice Chair of the regional branch of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Finally, we’ll get a national perspective on abortion laws from ELIZABETH NASH, the Senior State Issues Associate in the Guttmacher Institute’s Washington DC office.