WRIGHTSTOWN, Pennsylvania — Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania.

No matter what Democrats say, nothing has changed about that reality since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and nothing in this year’s election will change it.

Women can still end their pregnancies in the state up to 24 weeks gestation, just as they could before 2022. And abortions can be performed after that cutoff if a woman’s life or health is in danger.

With Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) in power, who supports access to abortions, the procedure’s legality will remain for at least the next three years. That is not a guess. It is what Shapiro has said and posted on social media repeatedly.

“Abortion is legal for Pennsylvanians and all women who travel here … as your Governor, I’ll always fight like hell to keep it that way,” Shapiro posted on X last week.

The only way abortion could be made illegal in Pennsylvania is if two legislative votes are taken in succession to reverse that “right” and the governor signed the change into law. But with a Democratic governor and the state House majority held by Democrats as well, and with the state House gerrymandered just last cycle to make sure it stays majority-Democrat for the foreseeable future, the change just isn’t going to happen.

So why have Democrats such as Shapiro campaigned as though the right to have an abortion is at risk in Pennsylvania?

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) headlined a reproductive rights panel at Crossing Vineyards and Winery here in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania, last week, warning that “women’s reproductive freedom is on the ballot in November.”

At a fundraiser in April, Shapiro said, “Donald Trump is coming to our Commonwealth to continue pushing his extreme agenda to control women’s bodies and take away Pennsylvanians’ freedoms.”

That would make for spectacular politics if it were true. But it’s not. Shapiro knows former President Donald Trump is not taking away the right to an abortion in Pennsylvania. Indeed, not only can he not do so in Pennsylvania, or Ohio and Michigan for that matter, but the former president has said firmly he has no intention of doing so.

Trump said in April he would not support a national ban on abortion. He also said state abortion laws are up to individual states, offering up two very clear stances that differ wildly from the message pushed by just about every Democrat running in Pennsylvania that the “right-wing MAGA extremists are going to take your abortion rights away.”

The truth is actually the opposite: The only abortion-access changes seeing any daylight in the state are ones that would expand access, not restrict it. When Shapiro entered office, he extended an executive order signed by former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf that offered access to services for out-of-state women whose own states have abortion restrictions.

Despite all this, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Montgomery County’s Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, in May to persuade white suburban women to believe their reproductive rights were at risk.

“Another Trump presidency could lead to more restrictions or even a nationwide ban,” Harris said.

Harris has made reproductive rights a focus of her campaign, and the vice president said at the time she was “optimistic about young voters and believe they will vote for more reproductive healthcare access.”

Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said the reason Democrats continue to run on a matter that isn’t a concern at all is simple.

“Democrats want voters to see a direct and imminent threat of Republicans winning and changing policy to make it more restrictive,” he said.

Borick said Democrats hope voters concentrate on that, but he said that does not translate into real immediate threats in terms of policy.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“The truth is, simply, insert any Republican candidate here, cannot take away abortion rights in Pennsylvania,” he said.

“As it stands in Pennsylvania, the status quo is right now that those protections exist, and to undo it would take significant action on the part of the state,” Borick added.