Hearing Held in Lawsuit to Halt Philadelphia’s Funding for Abortions

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—A public hearing in a lawsuit to block the use of taxpayer money for abortions was held on Friday, Oct. 14, at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

The suit was filed by the Thomas More Society on behalf of Philadelphia residents. It seeks to block the city’s half-million dollar donation to the Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania (ALF-PA).

After almost three hours of arguments by lawyers in the case, Judge Joshua Roberts ended the hearing and said he would issue an order the following week.

This complaint was filed on Aug. 16, 2022, on behalf of Philadelphia pro-life activists Charles P. Kuhar, Sr. and Theresa M. Kuhar, in response to the city’s allocation of $500,000 in public funds for ALF-PA. The city of Philadelphia, Mayor Jim Kenney, Treasurer Jaqueline Dunn, and Controller Rebecca Rhynhart are named in the lawsuit.

The city made the donation Aug. 4. “Abortion is health care no matter where you live,” Kenney said at the time, in a statement. “Providing financial support for people seeking abortions is one of the ways we will support Philadelphians in their fundamental right to bodily autonomy.”

After the hearing, the plaintiff’s lead attorney, Thomas E. Breth, told an Epoch Times reporter: “Depending upon what he puts into the order, either it’s going to enjoin the Abortion Liberation Fund from spending the money, or he’s going to deny our injunction. Then we’ll most likely be off to the Commonwealth Court on appeal.”

Commingling of Funds an Issue

Friday’s hearing was largely focused on whether the plaintiffs have legal standing to challenge the donation.

Breth, who is a special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said he appreciates that the judge has taken the time to listen to the oral arguments and testimony. But he disagreed with the city’s arguments.

However, Breth added that Judge Roberts also “focused a lot on the commingling of funds, federal funds, commonwealth funds, and the city’s position that these are local funds, and somehow they’re free to spend local funds in their own manner.”

Breth said “We disagree with all of that. Once all those funds go into [the] general fund account, they all become subject to the restrictions. And that means none of those funds can be spent as public funds for abortions.”

The lawsuit cites the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982, which states, ‘No commonwealth funds and no federal funds which are appropriated by the commonwealth shall be expended by any state or local government agency for the performance of the abortion.’”

The lead attorney for the defendant, Aimee D. Thomson, declined to be interviewed after the hearing.  Thomson is a Deputy City Solicitor for the City’s Affirmative & Special Litigation Unit.

Attorney: Court Dodged Key Issue

Breth said he felt that the court tried to avoid talking about the key issue: the city’s government funding abortion. He said Philadelphia’s city administration wants to show support for abortion because after the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in