Amendments Would Limit Abortion Funding, Extend Statute Of Limitation For Child Abusers, Other Things

Amendments Would Limit Abortion Funding, Extend Statute Of Limitation For Child Abusers, Other Things

By Bob Small

Recently the local Town Talk newspaper carried a full pager to inform citizens about the status of two proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution.  We should explain that if these two resolutions are approved for a second time during the 2023-4 Legislative session, then they will graduate to ballot questions.  The resolutions are 2021-2 and 2022-1.  One might want to ask the various State Representative and State Senate Candidates for their stance on these issues in order to consider that for your decision on voting.

Resolution 2021-2 basically extends the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse by two years. Institutions which have a historic history of sheltering child abusers may try to sidetrack this bill.

Whether there should even be a statue of limitations in these cases, which if not murder, are a form of soul murder, is another question entirely.

There are four separate issues on Resolution 2022-1. 

Firstly,  “This constitution does not grant the right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right to abortion”.   Obviously, this would be the most contentious issue of all those mentioned.

The second issue would be that the gubernatorial candidates who win the primary –assuming they mean the two major party candidates — will choose the lieutenant governor running mate.  This would eliminate the current system, where the lieutenant governor candidates have their own primary.  The current system has helped to generate many candidates with many voices.

The third issue is a discussion of voter ID for both in-person and mail-in ballots.  The question of what qualifies as valid Voter ID would need to be clarified.

Lastly, and I’ll just quote here:

The General Assembly shall by statue provide for the auditing of elections and election results by the Auditor General.  In years when the Auditor General stands for election to any office, an Independent Auditor shall conduct the audit.

Again, we would want our elected officials to “vote with their conscience” on these issues.

Amendments Would Limit Abortion Funding, Extend Statute Of Limitation For Child Abusers, Other Things