Tag Archives: COVID-19

Elderly Left Vulnerable by Wolf Administration COVID-19 Response

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By Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director

            Pennsylvania’s pro-abortion Democratic Governor is being taken to task for alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis.

            A group of Congressmen from Pennsylvania have sent a letter to the Commonwealth’s Attorney General, asking if he is investigating Gov. Tom Wolf for reportedly undercounting Coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. Similar allegations in New York have resulted in a major scandal for Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

            The PA letter is signed by pro-life Republican Congressmen John Joyce, Mike Kelly, Guy Reschenthaler, and Glenn Thompson.

            Governor Wolf—a former clinic escort for abortion giant Planned Parenthood—is well-known for his pro-abortion stance. Now, he’s under fire for the way he’s been dealing with those in the twilight of life who populate the Commonwealth’s nursing homes.

            Congressman Reschenthaler told PA news outlet KDKA, “I simply want to know if AG Shapiro is looking into whether Governor Wolf, like Governor Cuomo, is deflating the statistics and hiding the numbers in Pennsylvania.” 

            The Congressman added, “The fact that Governor Wolf has basically mimicked Governor Cuomo in the handling, I should say mishandling, of this pandemic makes me suspicious. And at the end of the day, we should all want transparency. Governor Wolf should be open.”

            Attorney General Josh Shapiro responded that his office investigates criminal matters, and questions about data collection should be sent to the state’s Inspector General.

            While the Governor indicated he would be open to that, his office also took the opportunity to blast the Republican Congressmen.

            “These baseless, endemic insinuations by the GOP that Pennsylvania may have misrepresented nursing home deaths betray a significant lack of understanding of our reporting going back to the beginning of the pandemic.”

            Still, significant questions about the PA Governor’s handling of the pandemic remain. Advocates for life wonder whether better decision-making by the Chief Executive could have resulted in fewer COVID-19-related deaths in the Commonwealth.

Un-masking the Wolf Administration

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By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

Vulnerable people, whatever their age, deserve protection.

But even prior to the pandemic, the Wolf Administration failed to protect our elderly by ignoring long-standing concerns in Pennsylvania nursing homes, according to a Spotlight PA expose.

“We are facing an elder care crisis. And we continue to ignore it at our own peril,” acknowledged the state Auditor General, a Democrat himself, in 2019.  

And then 2020 brought a novel virus. 

The overwhelming majority, almost 70% of COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania, have occurred in nursing homes, the fifth highest in the nation for deaths involving long term care residents, according to a July 30 New York Times article.

Could lives have been saved had the Wolf Administration acted upon findings from 2016?

Four years ago, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale reported several problems to the administration including:

-Low minimum staffing requirements, long criticized as “totally unsafe”

-poorly trained nursing home inspectors who were often too “cozy” with facilities

-and a low 2.7 hours of daily care per resident, substandard to the federal recommendation of 4.1 hours of daily care

While these unresolved concerns were highlighted again last year by the auditor general, to this day, the Department of Health has failed to issue the reforms they’ve long promised.

Incredibly, it was into this already stressed system of elder care that the state ordered “stable” COVID-19 hospital patients, putting other residents and the staff themselves at great risk.

And it was in the following month we saw the COVID-19 death toll peak in Pennsylvania, with the highest count at 186 deaths on April 26.

In between, the Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, removed the Secretary’s own mother from a long-term care facility.

Initially, an emergency response plan was developed for nursing homes. It was never fully implemented. Rather, a far more limited effort was activated in mid-April, but significant outbreaks had already taken hold.

In addition, the administration waived existing requirements, allowing nursing homes to operate even if they fell below state staffing levels.

At the same time, the safety net of in-person inspections has been suspended, replaced mostly with “virtual inspections.”

Family visits have also been halted, leaving little to no accountability for the facility, no advocacy for the residents, and an isolated population of elderly trapped.

Those in the twilight of their lives, highly dependent on others, certainly deserve better than this. And nursing home staff, dedicated to caring for them, deserve more support.

It’s difficult to understand why the Wolf Administration placed recovering patients into an already strapped system without an adequate plan to protect the parties involved.

It’s difficult to understand why for four years deficiencies were not addressed.

And it’s difficult to understand that while so much time, energy, and resources have been put into stopping the spread of COVID-19 among the general public, comparatively less effort has been spent protecting the elderly population experiencing the highest rates of death.

It seems the Wolf Administration has not just been wearing a mask, but blinders as well.

The lives of the elderly have an inherent value and dignity and the state has a duty to protect them from known harm.

To not do so amounts to passive euthanasia.

The Daily Death Count that Goes Unreported

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By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director

Out of sight is out of mind.

When we can’t see something, or perceive it by some other sense, we can forget that it exists.

That is not the case with Covid-19. Each day we hear about rates of infection and lives lost. Heart-wrenching stories broadcast by news outlets and shared on social media put a human face on the pandemic. Maps and graphs help us visualize trends so our decisions are better informed.

But there’s another death count not represented at daily press conferences. No news stories detailing the agony that families experience. No charts or graphs or maps. No mitigation efforts ordered by the Governor. The victims remain invisible, out of sight and out of mind to the general public.

But they do exist. Even if you and I can’t see them.

Yesterday, 12 deaths were attributed to Covid-19.  Eighty-three were due to abortion.

Today, 38 deaths were attributed to Covid-19. And again, eighty-three were due to abortion.

While tomorrow’s count for Covid-19 deaths remains unknown, we know the approximate number of deaths from either surgical or chemical abortion. Based on 2018 statistics released from the PA Department of Health, over 30,000 abortions occur annually in our state, an average of 83 every single day.

While Pennsylvania has lost 7282 precious lives to Covid-19, in the same time frame we have lost 12,699 precious lives to abortion, as abortion facilities remained open even when other non-essential businesses were closed.

Some lives are ended by a dangerous virus, others by a dangerous mindset that some humans are simply disposable. And should remain unseen and uncounted. As if they never existed.

But we know they do. The science is clear.  Human life begins at the moment of conception. Vulnerable, fragile, dependent, yes. Living, human, unique, and worth protecting, absolutely.

Ironically, in his remarks on April 18, Gov. Wolf reminded us, “There is no higher service than helping each other survive.”

That should include the littlest among us, even if hidden from view.

Let us not forget the victims of the abortion pandemic, during which a total of 1.5 million Pennsylvanians have been denied the most basic of all human rights.

Their lives should count too, after all.

Fighting for Life–During a Pandemic

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Child pensive By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

As the catastrophic Coronavirus pandemic swept through Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood shifted its abortion operation into high gear.

A number of state lawmakers in Pennsylvania became incensed that Planned Parenthood continued to perform abortions in the Commonwealth in the midst of the campaign to stop the spread of the potent virus.

They called on Governor Tom Wolf to enforce his own order, which allowed ambulatory health care services to continue, but banned elective surgical procedures during the pandemic.

Fifty-five members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives signed a letter, demanding that the Governor put a stop to abortions during the viral outbreak.

They were especially outraged that Planned Parenthood was hoarding masks and other medical goods at a time when such supplies were so desperately needed by doctors and nurses trying to save COVID-19 patients.

State Senators also sent a letter to the Governor, calling on him to ensure that Planned Parenthood Keystone came into immediate compliance with the elective surgery ban.

In addition, in an overwhelming showing of solidarity, people throughout the Commonwealth signed our petition to Governor Wolf, demanding a halt to abortions at this time.

But Planned Parenthood Keystone went as far as possible in the opposite direction: it became a 100 percent abortion operation. It announced on its website that its locations were open only to do abortions.

Governors throughout the nation ordered that elective abortions cease as medical professionals scrambled to deal with the fallout from the Coronavirus. But Governor Wolf—a former Planned Parenthood clinic escort—continued to defend abortions as “essential services.”

Abortion centers in Pennsylvania are regulated as ambulatory surgical facilities under a 2011 law. The statute resulted from the tragic Kermit Gosnell case. The West Philadelphia abortionist Gosnell was convicted of murdering three newborn babies and of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of patient Karnamaya Mongar. As a result of that trailblazing law, as many as nine abortion facilities have shut their doors because they could not or would not meet basic health and safety standards.

The pandemic also produced a panic about medical rationing, a fear that hospitals would issue mandatory do-not-resuscitate orders to patients without their express permission. Pro-life advocates led the way in lobbying for the prevention of this lethal practice. The intense efforts paid off, with the federal government ensuring that Coronavirus patients would not be euthanized.

During this incredibly difficult time, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation has been diligently working to protect the most vulnerable—from the baby nestled in her mother’s womb to the frail elderly. We have been your voice on the airwaves and in cyberspace, laboring to ensure that the right to life is not compromised.

Miracles can happen—even in the midst of a pandemic. It is through your unfailing commitment that such incredible breakthroughs can occur. We are striving to save not only this generation—but the many generations to come…generations that can be safeguarded from all manner of social ills through your amazing generosity.