HARRISBURG — 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.
This November, Pennsylvania voters will choose between candidates for governor who have radically different positions on what the commonwealth should do.
Pregnancies can be ended in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks gestation, a deadline tied to the concept of viability that was introduced in Roe. Abortions can be performed after that cutoff if a pregnant person’s life or health is in danger.
Incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is a vocal supporter of preserving that status quo, promising to veto any legislation that would further restrict access and joining a suit against a federal court's decision to ban the mailing of abortion medication.
His administration also ended the state’s decades-old contract with a nonprofit that counsels women against abortion and directs them to alternatives.
Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, meanwhile, celebrated the end of Roe and sold “Defund Planned Parenthood” T-shirts on her campaign website. However, since beginning her gubernatorial campaign, she said she would “respect” Pennsylvania’s current abortion law and wouldn’t back a ban.
The governor has the final say over any bill concerning abortion access. They can also appeal — or choose not to appeal — 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.
In more than a dozen states, legislators have passed laws in recent years restricting when people can get abortions, prosecuting doctors who provide abortion care, and banning the mailing of abortion pills. Other states have enshrined the right to abortion in law and allocated public funds to abortion care.
While Pennsylvania has not passed any legislation limiting or expanding abortion access in recent years — largely due to split control of the legislature — there has still been some action. The state’s Commonwealth Court struck down a longstanding ban on using Medicaid to fund abortion care, though Republican Attorney General Dave Sunday is appealing the ruling.
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.
Here’s what we know about where the candidates stand on the issues:
Abortion access
Despite publicly celebrating in 2022 when Roe was overturned, giving states unlimited power to restrict abortion, Garrity said in an interview with ABC27 after launching her campaign that she wouldn’t support a ban in Pennsylvania.
"Pennsylvania, right now, is in a decent place,” she said.
In a statement to Spotlight PA, Garrity said she is “pro-life, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”
She has, at times, been cagey with reporters — Politico reported that she declined to answer questions about abortion in a phone interview last fall. And when asked what voters “get from you” on the issue of abortion during an interview with NBC10 in April, she said she’d “rather talk about what they get on affordability.”
Asked by NBC10 if she would “uphold” Pennsylvania’s 24-week abortion limit, Garrity said it wouldn’t be up to her: “That would be up to the legislators.”
Earlier in her tenure as treasurer, Garrity was more outspoken against abortion. A few months after her election, she criticized then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, for saying he would veto any “anti-choice bills” and promoted a T-shirt her campaign was selling that said “Born to be Pro-Life.” Her campaign also sold “Defund Planned Parenthood” T-shirts.
A spokesperson for Shapiro’s campaign, meanwhile, said the governor has a “long track record of standing up for women’s reproductive rights,” and “using his office to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible in Pennsylvania.”
“As long as he is Governor, this fundamental freedom will be protected,” campaign spokesperson Sam Reposa said.
During his first term, Shapiro said he’d veto any law that “undermines a woman’s right to choose,” including an early-term abortion ban, such as one in Texas. He has reiterated that promise throughout his tenure.
“As long as I’m your Governor, abortion will remain safe and legal here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro posted on X.
In 2023, Shapiro’s administration created a site where people can find information on how to access abortion care in the state.
More recently, Shapiro joined an amicus brief with other states against a federal court ruling that banned the mailing of abortion medication.
Neither the Garrity nor Shapiro campaign responded to Spotlight PA's questions about whether they would sign legislation making abortion more or less accessible — such as banning the mailing of abortion medication, or getting rid of restrictions that abortion access advocates still oppose, like the state’s mandatory 24-hour waiting period for the procedure and its requirements for pre-abortion counseling and parental or guardian approval for minors.
The state legislature would need to get on board with any change to the law in Pennsylvania.
Democrats, who currently control the state House, are broadly against restrictions. Republicans, who control the state Senate, haven’t tried to pass any restrictions in years. However, when their party controlled the entire legislature, they did frequently — including an attempted 2022 amendment that would have added language to the state constitution saying abortion isn’t a protected right.
Medicaid-funded abortion
After years of litigation, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled in April that the state’s ban on using public funds, such as those from Medicaid, to cover abortion care violates the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment and equal protection provisions.
Attorney General Dave Sunday later appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court.
The governor also could have appealed the ruling, but Shapiro declined to do so, saying that he “long opposed” the ban and chose not to defend it throughout the case.
“A woman's ability to access reproductive care should never be determined by her income,” he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Garrity criticized the court’s ruling and Shapiro’s decision not to defend the ban, calling it “immoral.” Asked to elaborate in an interview with NBC10, Garrity said she doesn’t think “we should be using taxpayer dollars as an attack on life.”
In a statement to Spotlight PA, she commended Sunday for appealing Commonwealth Court’s ruling, which she called a “direct violation of the Hyde Amendment,” 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.
“Governor Shapiro’s decision to withdraw as a respondent should surprise absolutely no one, but it should concern every Pennsylvanian,” she said.