HARRISBURG — Several groups hoping to keep Democrats in the majority on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court are focusing their messaging on abortion in the lead-up to November’s critical retention elections.
Collectively, they’ve spent millions of dollars to urge voters to give three justices more years on the bench.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion hasn't dominated lawmaking in Pennsylvania. The governor is a Democrat who supports abortion access, and the party also controls the state House. For now, abortion remains legal in the commonwealth through 23 weeks of pregnancy.
Elsewhere, state governments have moved to dramatically restrict the practice.
But critical reproductive health questions are still being litigated in Pennsylvania courts — such as whether state Medicaid dollars can cover abortions. Plus, Pennsylvania is a swing state where politics can change rapidly, making courts particularly important, said Signe Espinoza, who heads Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania’s advocacy arm.
“We know the court can be that last line of defense,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza also noted that since Roe v. Wade was overturned, voters across the country have become more aware of the importance of state government in protecting reproductive health — not just when it comes to abortion, but in terms of accessing birth control, treating and managing loss of a pregnancy, and receiving gender-affirming care — all of which have been targets of the Trump administration.
State courts, she said, can therefore “make or break what health care looks like for people across the state,” and the issue has been particularly effective at “driving folks out” to the polls.
The three justices up for retention this year — Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donohue, and David Wecht — were first elected in 2015, in a sweep that resulted in a 5-2 majority for Democrats.
The state Supreme Court has since ruled on key issues such as redistricting, reproductive health, and gun control.
Millions of dollars from pro-retention donors
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the reproductive health provider’s political arm, has said it plans to spend six figures on a mailer campaign aimed at convincing Pennsylvanians to retain the three judges. The mailer says “anti-abortion billionaires are coming after our rights,” calling the state Supreme Court the “last line of defense.”
The fund isn’t the only group spotlighting abortion.
Defend Our Courts is a Philadelphia-based independent expenditure committee that describes itself as a group of citizens, political strategists, and campaign veterans who focus on judicial races in swing states.
(This kind of organization, known also as a super PAC, can raise unlimited money from groups including corporations and unions, but can’t directly give money to or coordinate with a candidate.)
It has run more than 80 ads on Facebook and other Meta-owned platforms throughout the summer and fall aimed at drawing attention to the retention races, according to Meta’s analytics. At least 18 of those explicitly named protecting abortion or other forms of reproductive health care, going as far as to call the retention election a “must-win race” to “protect women’s healthcare rights.”
As of mid-September, the group had spent nearly $1 million this year, according to its Pennsylvania campaign finance filings, primarily on email lists, consulting, digital fundraising, and canvassing.
People Power Pennsylvania, which according to its Federal Election Commission filing is a Philadelphia-based super PAC, spent nearly $40,000 on more than 80 ad buys on Meta this month. About a quarter focus on protecting abortion rights, crediting the state Supreme Court for protecting abortion access after Roe was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The organization has also spent over $100,000 on Google Ad buys since September, many of which cite protecting abortion rights. It hasn’t yet filed any spending reports with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Pennsylvanians for Judicial Fairness, another independent expenditure PAC, has pooled funds from major political donors, including the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, the dark money nonprofit PA Alliance Action, and the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, according to its latest campaign finance filing.
It has spent more than $1.5 million this year, as of mid-September, including on a TV ad that asks voters to “keep the Supreme Court independent” and highlights an ongoing case in which reproductive health providers argue the state constitution protects access to abortion.
A mailer funded by the group, meanwhile, claims billionaires want to “remove our current Supreme Court justices and replace them with judges who will ban abortion.”
The state Democratic Party is also highlighting abortion in its mailers, saying the court “ruled to keep abortion safe and legal.”
Other organizations, such as the Lehigh County Democratic Committee and voting rights group the New Pennsylvania Project, also paid for judicial retention ads that focus on abortion, though their spending was more limited.
These totals aren’t comprehensive. Much of the spending so far over the retention election has been done via independent expenditure — money that is spent to influence an election without direct coordination with a campaign. Groups haven’t yet had to report spending from mid-September to now, according to state law.
There has also been major spending by groups that want voters to reject additional terms for the state Supreme Court justices.
The national Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), which helps fund state-level GOP candidates, has spent at least tens of thousands of dollars on ads. A network of PACs and nonprofits all linked to Pennsylvania’s richest person has also begun spending, though the way the organizations are structured makes it difficult to know how much.
Abortion isn’t a settled issue in Pennsylvania
Even though legislation restricting abortion is unlikely under Pennsylvania’s current government, unsettled legal issues related to reproductive health in the state courts remain top of mind for advocates.
Last year, the state Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in a case concerning the state’s ban on using Medicaid dollars for abortion care.
While the court did not make a final ruling, it established a new precedent: that under Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights Amendment, abortion restrictions could be considered sex-based discrimination. The justices also asserted that any law that creates such a “sex-based distinction is presumptively unconstitutional,” unless the state can prove the distinction is necessary. It then sent the case back to a lower court for further consideration.
Espinoza said the ruling’s importance goes beyond that case. The court’s new precedent that abortion restrictions can be considered sex-based discrimination is a big deal, she said, and is a protection that will be critical if future challenges to reproductive rights emerge.
The idea that Pennsylvania’s politicians could radically change their approach to abortion is not just hypothetical.
Before Democrats took control of the state House in 2022, the GOP controlled the legislature and advanced an amendment to declare that the state’s constitution does not guarantee a right to an abortion. Because amendments do not require a governor's approval, the move effectively bypassed then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who would have vetoed it.
(Constitutional amendments need to pass in two concurrent sessions before they’re voted on in a statewide referendum, so the measure never made it to the ballot after Democrats captured the lower chamber.)
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will be up for reelection next year, and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican, is hoping to be his general election opponent. Garrity previously celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and has called herself pro-life, though she has since said she would not support a statewide abortion ban.