local
Jewish Democrats
Remain Focused
on Abortion
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
I n the aftermath of the Supreme
Court’s June decision to overturn
the Roe v. Wade ruling protecting
the liberty to have an abortion, we
tried to shift the conversation a little:
We attempted to ask local Jewish can-
didates, most of whom are Democrats,
for one big policy idea to help pregnant
women and mothers in a post-Roe
America. We did this because we already
know where they stand on the abortion
issue. And if you don’t, you can sign
to the query, Shapiro and PA House
candidates from different Bucks
County districts Gwen Stoltz (143)
and Ilya Breyman (178), started their
answers by reaffirming their support
for abortion access.

“We need to keep abortion safe and
legal in Pennsylvania,” Stoltz said.

“That is truly how I feel because abor-
tion is health care.”
Stoltz’s solution?
“Vote for pro-choice candidates up
and down the ballot in November.”
Breyman, who is running in a lower
Bucks County district, echoed his
Upper Bucks contemporary.

“If Roe hadn’t been overturned,
we would still be talking about women
as mothers, making sure their pregnancies
are safe and that when children are born
they can enjoy educational and
health care opportunities.”
ILYA BREYMAN
up for 10,000 emails a day that will
send you statements like this one from
Pennsylvania attorney general and
gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro:
“This is a tragic day for our country,
as a woman’s freedom to choose now
depends on the state in which she
lives,” Shapiro wrote on June 24, the
day of the ruling.

We were not asking Shapiro and
other Jewish Dems to give up the fight
and accept the post-Roe state of the
union. But we were asking if they could
be proactive and perhaps work with the
other side in one area where they agree.

The answer was, well, sort of.

The three politicians who responded
6 JULY 7, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
“The most important thing we have
to do is prevent a constitutional amend-
ment from being passed to prevent the
right of women to make reproductive
health care decisions for themselves,”
he said. “That’s why it’s important
that we elect those candidates to the
General Assembly.”
At the same time, when pushed, both
Stoltz and Breyman came up with ideas
for helping and protecting pregnant
women and mothers.

Stoltz, a mother of three, outlined
policies like paid family leave, acces-
sible pre-K and affordable and trans-
parent health insurance. In the health
insurance industry specifically, she