Ashley Ehasz, the Democratic Congressional candidate for Pennsylvania’s First District, hosted a roundtable Q&A on Saturday at the Warminster VFW. The event focused on the negative impact that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has had locally and across the state, just days before the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision.
Other panel members included Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton (D-191), State Representative Brian Munroe (D-144), and Linda Hahn, and the former CEO of Planned Parenthood Associates of Bucks County. Doylestown Democrats Chair Connor O’Hanlon, author of the forthcoming book “Building a Greater Society: A Guide to Political Revolution for Millennials & Generation Z,” served as the facilitator for the discussion.
The first question addressed abortion access and what candidates are hearing from the local community.
“We’re hearing that when it comes to reproductive rights being taken away from us, that folks are scared, and it’s not just women who are scared,” Ehasz said. “It’s those who love them, whole families, it’s older generations, it’s younger generations.”
“It’s not just because of the loss of their own bodily autonomy, but we also know that when democracy is under threat, that autocratic regimes will often go after the most vulnerable members, and I think a lot of really sharp voters are seeing that they are going after women.”
When door knocking, Munroe said he reminds voters how the GOP attempted to ban abortion in Pennsylvania two years ago, and many constituents say their top issue in this year’s election is a woman’s right to choose.
“We’re sitting feet away from a Planned Parenthood that is closing down for the first time in decades … a direct result of the Dobbs decision and the constant onslaught [by the GOP] on women’s choice,” Munroe said. “I can guarantee you, the vast majority of people in this district don’t know,” he said, adding that it’s the responsibility of Democratic candidates to make sure reproductive rights remains the number one issue on voter’s minds come November.
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Linda Hahn, the former CEO of Planned Parenthood Associates of Bucks County, recalled when the Warminster clinic first offered full reproductive health care services.
“We were picketed. We were harassed. The people that were against us said we were breaking zoning laws,” Hahn said. They weren’t.
The legal battle eventually reached the state Supreme Court and proved costly — at least $100,000, which Hahn is credited with raising — but resulted in a significant victory for Planned Parenthood.
“Every year, hundreds of women have access to safe, extremely competent abortion care,” she said, but noted that since Dobbs, the landscape has changed dramatically both politically and legislatively … “that’s harassment too, and we’ve got to fight it.”
O’Hanlon reminded the audience that in 2022, the Democrats won control of the state house by a very slim margin of one seat, and asked Speaker McClinton what Pennsylvania might look like if the Republicans were to once again be in control of both chambers in Harrisburg.
McClinton took the opportunity to recall how not that long ago the passage of far-right and extremist Republican legislation was stopped by way of then-Governor Tom Wolf’s veto. But in 2021, the GOP devised an alternate solution that involves amending the state’s constitution.
If the Republicans were to win, McClinton said “We would be right back to where we started, which is passing a constitutional amendment for an abortion ban in the next term, 2025, 2026, and then working to pass it again in the next term to get it to the voters so that we are once again on the chopping block and fighting for our rights.”
“How is it in 2024 that women’s rights are still on the ballot? It’s not acceptable … They [GOP] will create new policies that take away our right to choose and restrict our healthcare, which is absolutely outrageous.”
Ehasz, an Iraq War veteran, former Apache helicopter pilot, and West Point graduate, shared her perspective on how the Dobbs decision has already harmed the country’s armed forces.
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“Active-duty soldiers cannot choose the state that they are stationed – so they can be stationed in a state that bans abortion. My first duty station was in Alabama, my second duty station was in Texas,” she said. “I would have no longer had access to abortion in many cases if I were still in today.”
“To have fought to protect America’s rights overseas and to see them being taken away from us here at home is devastating … I hear from a lot of my brothers and sisters in arms that the erosion of our rights is terrifying, especially from a group that has signed up to defend the Constitution.”
Ehasz reviewed the congressional voting record of Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, saying he is not only anti-choice, but also voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act twice – both before and after the Dobbs decision.
“He voted to block the VA from providing abortion access to many members. So I use VA health care … that’s how he’s repaying my service. He also voted twice now, through two consecutive cycles, but most recently to block women and women in uniform from traveling to seek abortion healthcare. So he doubles and triples down. He also voted for a national abortion ban in 2017.”
O’Hanlon asked each panelist for final comments.
“If there’s anyone who’s let us know how they feel, and who they believe, and whether or not they support us, it is the 45th president of this nation,” McClinton said. “He made it very clear that he does not support our veterans. He does not support our right to vote because as soon as he lost and was defeated, he tried to throw out our votes in a deadly insurrection just a few weeks later.”
“From the White House to the United States House to the state house, there are people ready and already in the fight to defend all of our collective rights with your support,” Speaker McClinton added. “We’re going to have a lot of patience, but a lot of persistence, and we are going to win November 5th.”
“They brought me here because I actually ran a Planned Parenthood clinic,” Hahn said. “There’s no woman that’s there, or girl that’s there, that’s excited about having an abortion. Believe me, that is a difficult choice.”
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“I saw mothers and daughters and mothers crying … and fathers sitting with daughters … and women who already had five children, whose husband was working three shifts and could not have that sixth baby… So, I’ve got to say, vote for these people, and continue the hard work you’re doing.”
“First and foremost, I think about my family,” said Munroe. “I think about my wife, I think about my two young daughters who, by the way, years ago, we were talking about this issue. My youngest daughter, I think, was like seven at the time, turned to me and said, ‘Why do boys think they can tell girls what they can do with their own bodies?’”
Munroe spoke of a recent incident that occurred in the state house. “Several of the officers that were injured in the line of duty on January 6th, they were protecting our nation’s capital, and they were assaulted during an insurrection,” noting that their presence in Harrisburg was not political. “The other [GOP] caucus stood up, turned around, and they turned their backs on those officers, and they left the floor.”
“On November the 5th, we cannot let our society and these voters turn their backs on women. We can’t turn our backs on them,” Munroe added.
“I’ll kind of end where I began,” Ehasz said. “When I first gave my remarks, I talked about not only choice being an important issue here, but that when we look at the erosion of democracy, one of the first signs of it is vulnerable communities are attacked by those in power. We have a bully that’s trying to get back into the White House right now. We have a bully who currently is in this seat as the representative in Congress, and we have bullies all throughout the GOP majority in Congress right now, and they just have to go.”
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Ehasz reminded everyone to get involved. “Sign up to knock doors, make phone calls, write postcards, donate to the candidates that you want to win, and do the work that you need to do to save our democracy.”
The roundtable was recorded and may be viewed here.
