By Senator Doug Mastriano
July 2025
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives—under a Democrat-controlled majority—continues to stall and sabotage commonsense legislation that protects women. The latest example? Senate Bill 9, the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which passed the Senate with bipartisan backing, has been buried in procedural gamesmanship that betrays the women and girls Title IX was designed to protect.
The Democrat-led House Education Committee’s decision to re-refer SB 9 to the House Health Committee is not an administrative shuffle. It is a deliberate political maneuver by Democrats to sabotage legislation they are too afraid to publicly oppose. This sends a disturbing message: protecting women’s rights takes a back seat to appeasing radical activist ideology.
And let’s not forget that during the 2022 gubernatorial campaign, Josh Shapiro loudly proclaimed himself a “defender of women’s rights.” But his actions tell a very different story.
By aligning with efforts to block SB 9, Shapiro is betraying the women he claimed to champion. His political gamesmanship proves he is not a defender of women’s rights, but a liar and opportunist willing to roll back 50 years of hard-won progress. He supports having biological males dominate women’s sports, stripping away opportunity and endangering the integrity of Title IX. This is not leadership. This is cowardice disguised as inclusivity.
The Facts Are Clear
- Gallup polling shows that 70% of Americans oppose allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports. It’s a matter of fairness.
- Female athletes have already lost medals, scholarships and opportunities due to biological males invading girls’ sports. This is happening—and it is hurting real people.
- A 2020 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine confirmed the obvious, that biological males have athletic advantages even after hormone therapy, including greater speed, strength and endurance.
- In Pennsylvania, girls and parents are speaking out about unfair and unsafe situations created when biological males compete in female divisions or enter female locker rooms.
And yet, Gov. Shapiro and House Democrats ignore these facts. They obstruct SB 9 and distort the conversation, pretending that this is about acceptance. But it’s not. It’s about displacing women from their own spaces, denying them their own podiums and erasing the very category of “female athlete.”
The Cost of Inaction
Every day this bill is delayed, Shapiro is saying that female rights are subject to his dangerous political ambitions. That their safety, their dignity and their futures are less important than political theater. That biological reality must be sacrificed to satisfy ideological fantasy.
This is not progress—it is a direct assault on everything Title IX was meant to secure. And it is being waged by the very people who once claimed to stand with women.
It’s Time to Do What’s Right
The House must bring Senate Bill 9 to a vote—no more stalling, no more rerouting, no more cowardice.
Gov. Shapiro has a decision to make. Will he continue waging war on the very women he once pledged to defend, or will he uphold the promises he made to the people of this commonwealth?
The Save Women’s Sports Act is not extreme. What’s extreme is allowing young girls to be pushed aside, overpowered and silenced in the name of politics.
The future of women’s sports in Pennsylvania is on the line. Let’s defend it, not dismantle it.
Sen. Doug Mastriano represents the 33rd Senate District, which includes Franklin and Adams counties.