Don't ignore PA's future efforts for passage of proposed abortion-rights referendum

On Dec 17, 2025, the PA House of Representatives passed a bill that would put a referendum before voters on adding specific abortion rights language to the state constitution that could protect abortion rights that were overturned in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization which overturned abortion rights found in Roe V. Wade. However, the measure will not be taken up to the Republican-majority Senate. The bill would give voters the option to enshrine their pre-Dobbs rights into the state constitution. The proposed constitutional language that would go before voters states that "every individual has the fundamental right to exercise personal reproductive liberty, including the chance to end a pregnancy, use contraceptives, or receive fertility care and that the commonwealth "may not deny, burden, infringe upon... this right..." It further states that "... in no circumstance shall the commonwealth prohibit an abortion, that in the professional judgment of an attending health care professional, is medically indicated to protec the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual."

This is a referendum worth following for those interested in protecting women's rights and women's health and who should be making these decisions.

Constitutional amendments must be passed by both chambers of legislature before it is put to the voters on the next ballot. Sessions are two years between legislative elections. It is critical that Democrats win a majority in both chambers in 2026 so that abortion rights language could be passed in the 2027-28 session.

Source: PennLive, PA House caps 2025 with passage of a proposed abortion-rights referendum, Dec 18, 2025.