Press Release Arizona
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro for Governor
For Immediate Release: Friday, March 25, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Nation’s leading reproductive freedom advocacy group endorses Attorney General Shapiro for governor of Pennsylvania
Washington, DC — Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced its endorsement of Attorney General Josh Shapiro in his 2022 bid for governor of Pennsylvania. Attorney General Shapiro is seeking to succeed Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, whose term ends this year.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said:
“NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud to endorse Attorney General Josh Shapiro in his bid to become the next governor of Pennsylvania. With a state legislature controlled by anti-choice politicians, it is more important than ever that Pennsylvanians have a governor willing to stand up for their freedom to make their own decisions about their families and futures. Throughout his time in office, Attorney General Shapiro has been a champion for the overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians who support reproductive freedom. He has demonstrated the leadership needed to protect and expand abortion access at a time when it faces unprecedented threats in Pennsylvania and across the country.”
Attorney General Josh Shapiro said:
“In Republican-controlled states across the country, we’ve seen reproductive rights come under attack like never before – and if a Republican is elected governor in Pennsylvania, they won’t hesitate to sign into law those same cruel, dangerous abortion bans. Throughout my career, I have always fought to protect the right to choose, and as governor, I will veto any attempt to further infringe upon Pennsylvanians’ reproductive rights. The stakes are too high this year, and I’m proud to have NARAL’s support in my campaign for governor so that I can continue my work to protect and expand access to reproductive healthcare in Pennsylvania.”
It is critical that Pennsylvanians elect a governor who supports reproductive freedom at a moment when their fundamental rights are on the line. During Governor Wolf’s time in office, he has vetoed multiple bills passed by anti-choice state legislators that would have restricted abortion and pushed care out of reach for Pennsylvanians.
Attorney General Shapiro has demonstrated his readiness to stand up for reproductive freedom as governor and has consistently fought to protect abortion access in Pennsylvania and across the country. Last year, Shapiro 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. Shapiro also signed onto amicus briefs in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s new Title X rules to restore the nation’s only federal funding program dedicated solely to providing family planning services and in support of ending medically unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion care. Shapiro joined amicus briefs in opposition to Texas’ vigilante-enforced abortion ban (SB 8), a series of abortion restrictions in Indiana, and a ban on abortion in South Carolina before many people know they are pregnant.
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 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 to 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 and, in the event Pennsylvania has an anti-choice governor, it could join the list of states rushing to ban abortion. If Roe is overturned and states move swiftly to ban abortion, it is predicted that there would be a 1,169% increase in women of reproductive age whose nearest abortion provider would be in Pennsylvania—from 170,000 to 2.1 million people.
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. Pennsylvania already severely restricts reproductive freedom by subjecting people to laws meant to push abortion care out of reach including a biased counseling requirement meant to shame and stigmatize abortion care and ban on abortion based on the reason a pregnant person may seek care. In this legislative session, the Pennsylvania Senate is considering a ballot initiative to amend the Pennsylvania state constitution to explicitly state there is no state constitutional right to abortion or guarantee of state funds for 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.