Republican Nominee for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Wiped Anti-Abortion Language From Website

Carolyn Carluccio, the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, removed a resume highlighting her anti-abortion stances from her campaign’s website.  The since-deleted resume’s topline stated that she’d be a defender of “all life under the law.”   

Judge Carolyn Carluccio, the Republican nominee for the open Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat, removed a resume touting her anti-abortion stances from her website.  

The resume, which was originally posted on her campaign’s “About” page and was accessed through an internet archive, uses coded rhetoric stating that the judge is a “Defender of 2nd Amendment Rights and All Life Under the Law.”

Carluccio is the President Judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas and defeated Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCoullough in Tuesday’s Republican primary to earn her party’s nomination for the open seat. She will face Democratic nominee Daniel McCaffery in November’s general election. 

The vacant seat opened following the death of Chief Justice Max Baer. Democrats currently hold a 4-2 majority on the court.  

The resume isn’t the only piece of evidence pointing to Carluccio’s ideological opposition to reproductive rights.

In February, Carluccio submitted a questionnaire to the Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform, a business-friendly 501(c)6 organization, stating that she received endorsements from the PA Pro-Life Federation and the Pennsylvania Republican Party.  

The Pro-Life Federation’s website states they are against abortion from the moment of conception and grant legal protections to fetuses. When speaking in support of a constitutional amendment banning the right to an abortion in June 2022, Maria Gallagher, the organization’s legislative director, told KDKA they supported the amendment because they “believe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court might go even further and declare a constitutional right to an abortion under the Pennsylvania Constitution.” 

During the final weeks of the primary, the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a conservative political action committee funded by Pennsylvania’s richest billionaire, Jeffrey Yass, spent $250,000 on mailers highlighting Carluccio’s anti-abortion endorsement to voters around the commonwealth.

Signe Espinoza, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates Pennsylvania, stated that candidates running for office need to be clear where they stand following the reversal of Roe v. Wade because reproductive rights are being decided in state courts and legislatures.

“‘Pro life’ has always been a misnomer and as more states ban abortion, we are seeing the practical reality: maternal mortality on the rise, health complications for mothers and babies, a loss of autonomy,” Espinoza said. “A candidate endorsed by any purported ‘pro life’ organization should answer to those ramifications.”