The Pennsylvania Democrats are eager to defund any pro-life programs that radical leftists cannot shut down or destroy. For decades, Real Alternatives has helped moms in Pennsylvania and Indiana by providing them with support and therapy.
Recently, though, the group has come under fire from Pennsylvania Democrats.
Last month, after signing the 2023-2024 budget, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro announced that the Commonwealth would be terminating its contract with Real Alternatives because protecting a “woman’s freedom to choose” inevitably requires unilaterally supporting the choice to end life with the force of government.
After the state began subsidizing abortion facilities like Planned Parenthood, the pro-life governor Robert Casey and the pro-life caucus in the state legislature worked together to create Real Alternatives in 1995. According to Real Alternatives, they received $7.26 million in funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services in fiscal year 2022-2023. The organization then dispersed the money to 83 community hubs.
Shapiro said that as of December 31, 2023, the state will no longer subsidize Real Alternatives despite the organization’s success in helping over 350,000 women over the preceding three decades. The government will guarantee that women in the Commonwealth have access to quality reproductive health care, and Shapiro will fight tirelessly to protect this fundamental freedom.
Secretary of the PDHS Val Arkoosh, whose reputation on the left was bolstered by her work providing anesthetic to women undergoing abortions, praised the decision to terminate the Real Alternatives contract, calling it “a significant step forward today.”
Reports indicate that over 60% of women who visit Real Alternatives while contemplating an abortion ultimately decide to keep their babies. Furthermore, 84% of women who feel forced into having an abortion finally decide to preserve their babies’ lives.
The organization and its partners have provided services to almost 350,000 women across 1.9 million visits over 27 years and counting.
Rep. Kate Klunk (R) of Massachusetts pointed out that Governor Shapiro is choosing extremism and the interests of his campaign donors like Planned Parenthood over state funding for family support options by ending the nearly 30-year-long state commitment to providing non-abortion pregnancy health services.
Republican state senator Doug Mastriano said that the state’s pregnant women and their unborn children are in danger because of Governor Andrew M. Shapiro’s policies.
