Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims apologized to the family he harassed outside of a Philadelphia-area Planned Parenthood back in April.
Sims accosted Ashley Garecht, her two teenage daughters, and one of their friends on Holy Thursday before Easter weekend last spring. He harassed them momentarily before leaving, only to return later. Upon his return, the state lawmaker began filming and called for the family to be doxed while also continuing to mock them.
Despite backlash, the lawmaker refused to apologize at the time but did so earlier this week, according to Joe Garecht, Ashley Garecht’s husband.
“Rep. Sims sent a short handwritten note, apologizing for his actions. We take him at his word, and we have already forgiven him,” he told the Washington Examiner Tuesday.
Following Sims’ apology, fellow Pennsylvania lawmaker Jerry Knowles withdrew a House resolution meant to censure Sims for the incident.
“It’s sad that it took more than five months for Rep. Sims to acknowledge he did something very wrong, but he did finally apologize to the people he bullied, harassed and doxed at the Philadelphia abortion clinic,” Knowles said in a press release about withdrawing the resolution.
Garecht added, “Obviously, we had hoped that the state legislature would publicly rebuke Rep. Sims for his actions, to ensure that no other person in the Commonwealth would be subjected to similar harassment from an elected official. Sadly, we have been told that will not happen.”
He went on to accuse state Speaker of the House Mike Turzai and Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, who are both Republicans, of not bringing the resolution to the floor “for political reasons” and declared their actions were “shameful” for “leaders from our own party who proudly proclaim that they are pro-life.”
