Press Release California
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Maura Healey for Massachusetts Governor
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Nation’s leading reproductive freedom advocacy group endorses Attorney General Healey for governor of Massachusetts
Washington, DC — Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced its endorsement of Attorney General Maura Healey in her 2022 bid for governor of Massachusetts.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said:
“NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud to endorse Maura Healey in her bid to become the next governor of Massachusetts. Maura has demonstrated time and again that she will stand up for our fundamental rights. With states across the country rushing to ban abortion and Roe v. Wade hanging on by a thread, it is more important than ever that Bay Staters have a governor who will work to safeguard and expand access to abortion care.”
Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey said:
“I am honored to have NARAL’s support at a time when reproductive freedom is under threat like never before. With the looming possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade this June, it will be on our next governor to continue to protect access to safe and legal abortion in Massachusetts, break down systemic barriers to these services, and expand access to comprehensive reproductive care for all. That’s what I’ve done as a civil rights attorney throughout my career, and it’s what I will do as governor in partnership with advocates like NARAL.”
Attorney General Healey has demonstrated her readiness to stand up for reproductive freedom as governor and has consistently fought to protect abortion access in Massachusetts and across the country. Last year, Healey joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief opposing Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Healey also led an amicus brief in opposition to Texas’ vigilante-enforced abortion ban (SB 8) with every democratic attorney general. While Healey served as co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, it became the first and only Democratic campaign committee to require candidates to publicly state their support for abortion rights in order to receive endorsements.
She also took on the Trump administration’s attacks on birth control and Title X. Healey was the first statewide elected official in Massachusetts to endorse the ROE Act, a bill to remove several barriers and restrictions on abortion care in Massachusetts. Healey has been a champion for reproductive freedom since well before she was elected to public office, including leading investigations into so-called crisis pregnancy centers and spearheading efforts to protect the public safety of abortion providers.
This endorsement comes as NARAL Pro-Choice America is ramping up our work to elect candidates up and down the ballot during a critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. In the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. Should Roe fall, state leaders will be even more critical in the fight to protect and advance abortion rights and access. If the landmark abortion rights decision is undone, 28 states are expected to take action to prohibit abortion outright, 13 of which already have “trigger bans” in place that would ban abortion automatically.
The anti-choice movement believes the end of Roe is on the horizon, and lawmakers hostile to reproductive freedom are going to unprecedented lengths to undermine access to abortion care. The people hurt most by abortion restrictions like these are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; those working to make ends meet; LGBTQ+ people; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; and people with disabilities.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.