Stephen F. Freind (born April 22, 1944) is a retired American politician from Pennsylvania who was a Republican member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

for the 166th district from 1976 until 1993. He unsuccessfully challenged

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

in the 1992 Republican

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

. He authored the Abortion Control Act of 1982, a law that includes, with some exceptions, "requirements that a married woman notify her husband, that there be a 24-hour wait before any abortion, and that doctors show patients a pamphlet with pictures of developing fetuses", as well as another law to prevent suits against doctors for wrongful birth or

wrongful life Wrongful life is the name given to a cause of action in which someone is sued by a severely disabled child (through the child's legal guardian) for failing to prevent the child's birth. Typically, a child and the child's parents will sue a do ...

for not giving information about risk of fetal abnormalities. The Abortion Control Act was mostly upheld by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

except for the spousal notification provision in the case of ''

Planned Parenthood v. Casey ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', 505 U.S. 833 (1992), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the right to have an abortion as established by the "essential holding" of '' Roe v. Wade'' (1973) ...

''. In 1988, Freind provoked controversy by claiming that it is "almost impossible" for a woman to become pregnant through rape, as it causes her to "secrete a certain secretion, which has a tendency to kill sperm". In 1984, a bill drafted by Freind was enacted into law that changed the way adults who were adopted as children access their original birth certificates. This became Act 195 of 1984 or Adoption Act of 1984. This act is a lesser-known component of Freind's abortion agenda. Freind was convinced that denying adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates would lower abortion rates. As of February 2025, only 15 states allow adult adoptees unrestricted access to request and obtain a copy of their original birth certificate.{

Early life and education

Freind was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and graduated from the Malvern Preparatory School in 1962. He received a B.A. from

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

in 1966 and a J.D. from

Temple University Law School The James E. Beasley School of Law (known as Temple Law) is the law school of Temple University, a public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and enrolls about 650 students. Student body Admission for the ...

in 1969.

Run for Senate

In 1992 Freind gave up his state house seat to challenge

in the Republican U.S. Senate Primary. Freind ran well to the moderate-liberal Specter's right, accusing Specter of having more in common with Democrats than Republicans. Although Specter went on to win, he had to spend a considerable amount of money to do so. This left him in a weakened position for the general election, in which he just barely defeated Democratic challenger

Lynn Yeakel Lynn Hardy Yeakel (July 9, 1941 – January 13, 2022) was an American administrator and political figure. She was the Director of Drexel University College of Medicine's Institute for Women's Health and Leadership and held the Betty A. Cohen Cha ...

. Republican primary for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania, 1992: *

(inc.) - 683,118 (65.08%) * Stephen F. Freind - 366,608 (34.92%)

Books by Freind

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freind, Stephen F. 1944 births Living people Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania lawyers Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni Villanova University alumni 20th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly

Early life and education

Run for Senate

See also

Books by Freind

References