{"id":218290,"date":"2026-06-13T12:54:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/218290\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T12:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:54:06","slug":"pa-election-2026-where-governor-candidates-garrity-and-shapiro-stand-on-abortion-pennsylvania-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/218290\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa. election 2026: Where governor candidates Garrity and Shapiro stand on abortion | Pennsylvania News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotlight PA<\/a> is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HARRISBURG \u2014 Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, states have become the primary battlegrounds for fights over expanding or restricting access to abortion.<\/p>\n

This November, Pennsylvania voters will choose between candidates for governor who have radically different positions on what the commonwealth should do.<\/p>\n

Pregnancies can be ended in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks gestation, a deadline tied to the concept of viability<\/a> that was introduced in Roe. Abortions can be performed after that cutoff if a pregnant person\u2019s life or health is in danger.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is a vocal supporter of preserving that status quo, promising to veto<\/a> any legislation that would further restrict access and joining a suit against a federal court’s<\/a> decision to ban the mailing of abortion medication.<\/p>\n

His administration also ended<\/a> the state\u2019s decades-old contract with a nonprofit that counsels women against abortion<\/a> and directs them to alternatives.<\/p>\n

Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, meanwhile, celebrated<\/a> the end of Roe and sold<\/a> \u201cDefund Planned Parenthood\u201d T-shirts on her campaign website. However, since beginning her gubernatorial campaign, she said she would \u201crespect<\/a>\u201d Pennsylvania\u2019s current abortion law and wouldn\u2019t back a ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The governor has the final say over any bill concerning abortion access. They can also appeal \u2014 or choose not to appeal \u2014 state court rulings and use their bully pulpit to push a legislative agenda. This power is amplified by the razor-thin partisan margins in the state legislature, where Democrats currently control the state House and Republicans control the state Senate.<\/p>\n

In more than a dozen states<\/a>, legislators have passed laws in recent years restricting when people can get abortions, prosecuting doctors<\/a> who provide abortion care, and banning<\/a> the mailing of abortion pills. Other states have enshrined the right to abortion<\/a> in law and allocated public funds to abortion care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Pennsylvania has not passed any legislation limiting or expanding abortion access in recent years \u2014 largely due to split control of the legislature \u2014 there has still been some action. The state\u2019s Commonwealth Court struck down<\/a> a longstanding ban on using Medicaid to fund abortion care, though Republican Attorney General Dave Sunday is appealing<\/a> the ruling.<\/p>\n

Reproductive rights advocates say lawmakers and the governor have an increasingly important role amid ongoing federal attacks on abortion access, especially in a swing state such as Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about where the candidates stand on the issues:<\/p>\n

Abortion access<\/p>\n

Despite publicly celebrating in 2022 when Roe was overturned, giving states unlimited power to restrict abortion, Garrity said in an interview with ABC27<\/a> after launching her campaign that she wouldn\u2019t support a ban in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

“Pennsylvania, right now, is in a decent place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Spotlight PA, Garrity said she is \u201cpro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has, at times, been cagey with reporters \u2014 Politico reported<\/a> that she declined to answer questions about abortion in a phone interview last fall. And when asked what voters \u201cget from you\u201d on the issue of abortion during an interview with NBC10<\/a> in April, she said she\u2019d \u201crather talk about what they get on affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by NBC10 if she would \u201cuphold\u201d Pennsylvania\u2019s 24-week abortion limit, Garrity said it wouldn\u2019t be up to her: \u201cThat would be up to the legislators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in her tenure as treasurer, Garrity was more outspoken against abortion. A few months after her election, she criticized<\/a> then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, for saying he would veto any \u201canti-choice bills\u201d and promoted a T-shirt her campaign was selling that said \u201cBorn to be Pro-Life.\u201d Her campaign also sold \u201cDefund Planned Parenthood<\/a>\u201d T-shirts.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Shapiro\u2019s campaign, meanwhile, said the governor has a \u201clong track record of standing up for women\u2019s reproductive rights,\u201d and \u201cusing his office to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as he is Governor, this fundamental freedom will be protected,\u201d campaign spokesperson Sam Reposa said.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Shapiro said he\u2019d veto<\/a> any law that \u201cundermines a woman\u2019s right to choose,\u201d including an early-term abortion ban, such as one in Texas<\/a>. He has reiterated that promise throughout his tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as I\u2019m your Governor, abortion will remain safe and legal here in Pennsylvania,\u201d Shapiro posted on X.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2023, Shapiro\u2019s administration created a site<\/a> where people can find information on how to access abortion care in the state.<\/p>\n

More recently, Shapiro joined an amicus brief with other states<\/a> against a federal court ruling that banned the mailing of abortion medication.<\/p>\n

Neither the Garrity nor Shapiro campaign responded to Spotlight PA’s questions about whether they would sign legislation making abortion more or less accessible \u2014 such as banning the mailing of abortion medication, or getting rid of restrictions that abortion access advocates still oppose, like the state\u2019s mandatory 24-hour waiting period for the procedure and its requirements for pre-abortion counseling and parental or guardian approval for minors.<\/p>\n

The state legislature would need to get on board with any change to the law in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Democrats, who currently control the state House, are broadly against restrictions. Republicans, who control the state Senate, haven\u2019t tried to pass any restrictions in years. However, when their party controlled the entire legislature, they did frequently \u2014 including an attempted 2022 amendment<\/a> that would have added language to the state constitution saying abortion isn\u2019t a protected right.<\/p>\n

Medicaid-funded abortion<\/p>\n

After years of litigation<\/a>, Pennsylvania\u2019s Commonwealth Court ruled in April that the state\u2019s ban on using public funds, such as those from Medicaid, to cover abortion care violates the state constitution\u2019s Equal Rights Amendment and equal protection provisions.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Dave Sunday later appealed that ruling<\/a> to the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The governor also could have appealed the ruling, but Shapiro declined<\/a> to do so, saying that he \u201clong opposed\u201d the ban and chose not to defend it throughout the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cA woman’s ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Garrity criticized the court\u2019s ruling and Shapiro\u2019s decision not to defend the ban, calling it \u201cimmoral<\/a>.\u201d Asked to elaborate<\/a> in an interview with NBC10, Garrity said she doesn\u2019t think \u201cwe should be using taxpayer dollars as an attack on life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Spotlight PA, she commended Sunday for appealing Commonwealth Court\u2019s ruling, which she called a \u201cdirect violation of the Hyde Amendment,\u201d a federal law that bars the use of public funds to pay for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, or saving the life of the parent.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Shapiro\u2019s decision to withdraw as a respondent should surprise absolutely no one, but it should concern every Pennsylvanian,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026 If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you<\/a> who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[95340,33,28,30,29,8060],"class_list":["post-218290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-abortion-law","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-stacy-garrity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}