PENNSYLVANIA: Bitter Abortion Battle

Many of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania remain unchanged from colonial times, and when Liberal Democratic Governor Milton Shapp was elected two years ago, he promised sweeping reform. He reckoned without the strength of a revitalized conservative coalition in the state legislature, consisting of more than 100 Roman Catholics in both houses, mostly from urban and suburban areas, aided by like-minded rural legislators. Working together, the two groups represent a formidable constituency: Pennsylvania has four million Catholic residents and the highest rural population in the nation. The Governor also reckoned without State Representative Martin P. Mullen, 51, an...

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