As states decided to toughen up on anti-abortion measures in 2000, Pennsylvania showed no change in its policies, a recent study said.

However, the lack of policy change is likely because of the strict statutes Pennsylvania already has in place, the study said.

According to a study done by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), the state makes it difficult for a woman to have an abortion.

In 1989, the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act was passed. The act requires women under the age of 18 to obtain parental consent and to wait 24 hours before having an abortion.

"Pennsylvania still gets a failing grade from NARAL," said Leslie Anastasio, executive director of NARAL's Philadelphia office.

Anastasio said 75 percent of Pennsylvania's counties have no abortion providers. Therefore, rural women face the challenge of finding a provider that could be 100 miles away, she said.

However, Pennsylvania offers other options for women who deal with unplanned pregnancy. Under the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, the office of social programs provides Women's Service Programs Providing Alternatives to Abortion.

The service refers women to adoption agencies, pregnancy centers or maternity homes, said Catherine Kimmel, manager of statewide social service grants. Women are educated about pregnancy through counseling, she said.

While the network of centers that provide alternatives to abortion educate women in adoption and financial assistance, Anastasio said the centers fail to provide other important information such as preventive measures for unintended pregnancies.

"(The center) tries to dissuade women from other methods," she said.

Jennifer Holdren, director of Heart to Heart Adoptions Inc., 504 Benner Pike, Bellefonte, said her organization does not offer a one-sided view of pregnancy. It has a state contract through the Department of Welfare to provide various services to women with unplanned pregnancies or women who can no longer provide for children less than one year old.

"We are a big support system," Holdren said.

In addition to adoption services, the organization provides counseling, parenting classes, education on relationships, contraceptives and abortion.

Holdren added that Heart to Heart is not affiliated with religious organizations.

"We don't evangelize at all," she said. She added that "preaching" is the last thing the organization would want to impose on a woman in such a condition.

As conflicting views about abortion persist in Pennsylvania, NARAL predicts that greater challenges will occur this year.

With anti-choice lawmakers controlling most of the state legislature, NARAL spokesperson William Lutz said, "We expect continued action."