I’m Not Letting Up on the Fight to Protect Your Right to Make Your Own Health Care Decisions

Mary Gay Scanlon
3 min readNov 7, 2022

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Like so many of our neighbors from all walks of life across PA-05, I believe a woman should have the freedom to make her own health care decisions with her doctor and loved ones. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it jeopardized access to this fundamental health care. Now, extremists are plotting a nationwide ban to criminalize abortion in every state.

In the face of these attacks on our freedom, I am not letting up on the fight to protect women’s reproductive rights.

Last week I proudly welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris and activist and actress Sophia Bush to PA-05 for an action-oriented conversation about our path forward in protecting your ability to make decisions about what you do with your body.

You can check out our conversation here and below.

It was great to host the Vice President in our community again. This summer, I welcomed her to Philadelphia for a roundtable with state legislators to discuss how we can best support the fight for reproductive rights at the state level. The Vice President and I share the belief that it is more urgent than ever for all levels of government to collaborate to strengthen the rule of law and protect reproductive health care. You can read about the roundtable here.

It’s not just elected officials who are critical players in this fight — I’m grateful to also work alongside our local faith leaders who are powerful champions of our fundamental freedoms.

I recently joined faith leaders and local lawmakers at Main Line Unitarian Church for a productive conversation about our collective work in Pennsylvania to defend women’s rights.

I am not letting up on the legislative front, either. I voted to pass three pieces of legislation critical to protecting women’s health freedom and more importantly — their lives.

I continue to hear from constituents across the district about the many other ways they now feel more vulnerable to attacks on their safety, well-being, and freedom. One freedom they are rightfully concerned about is their right to feel confident that their personal health and location data is treated with care — not exploited for profit. Data brokers currently remain free from federal regulation to collect highly sensitive data from seemingly innocuous sources and sell it to the highest bidder without the consumer’s consent or knowledge.

I’m taking action by leading legislation to rein in giant data brokers’ unscrupulous practice of trading on Americans’ vulnerabilities and establish clear and strong rules of the road for the $200 billion data broker industry. Read about my Health and Location Data Protection Act here and below.

I will continue to fight to ensure these bills become law. I am proud to put People Over Politics for our community and keep up the fight to restore Roe v. Wade and protect abortion access.

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Mary Gay Scanlon

Mary Gay Scanlon currently serves a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District.