I am a pediatrician and an advocate for rebuilding trust in medicine. My husband, an Emergency Medicine physician, has lived in Pennsylvania now for 13 years being advocates in our community and raising three boys. Because we care deeply about the trajectory of Pennsylvania when it comes to healthcare, I want to share some information about Senator Mastriano especially given the political climate post Roe v Wade.
As you know, Senator Mastriano is pro-life, but there has been a huge effort to slander his character and spread misinformation. The fact is that he is a man of honor and will not be using his position as Governor to pass edicts. He has a PhD in history and fundamentally understands the balance of power in our Republic. It is the responsibility of the legislature to legislate bills that reflect the will of their constituents. It is our job as constituents of Pennsylvania to elect a legislature that reflects our views. This means that as Governor, Mastriano will not be issuing any edicts regarding life but if a bill comes across his desk that promotes life, he will sign it.
Now, I want to introduce you to Senate Bill 378, Senator Mastriano’s Heartbeat Bill. This bill is “for abortion on unborn child of 24 or more weeks gestational age.” The bill establishes fetal heartbeat as a likelihood of full-term infant viability. This bill states, “no person shall perform or induce an abortion upon another person when the gestational age of the unborn child is 24 or more weeks” with “a detectable fetal heartbeat.”
Senator Mastriano does not stop there but then addresses the need for medical decisions to be made within the boundaries of the patient-physician relationship and does not hinder physician autonomy to give sound medical council. The bill states the physician “1. in his best clinical judgment, the abortion is necessary; or (2) he receives what he reasonably believes to be a written statement signed by another physician, hereinafter called the “referring physician,” certifying that in this referring physician’s best clinical judgment the abortion is necessary.”
Under Mastriano as Governor of Pennsylvania, women will be able to have a D&C, surgery for an ectopic pregnancy and other reproductive healthcare needed. Even though Senator Mastriano believes that life begins at conception, his legislation introduced for Pennsylvanians addresses abortions after 24 weeks gestational age.
Because Senator Mastriano takes the higher road, he will not be attacking his opponent that believes in abortion even after birth but simply will follow his convictions to lead our Commonwealth only using the authority that we the people give him for that time upholding our Constitution using the constraints of the balance of power.
Chaminie Wheeler, DO, Lehigh County
