{"id":1080,"date":"2026-05-24T10:33:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2026-05-24T10:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:33:46","slug":"in-massachusetts-governors-race-its-the-economy-stupid-for-healey-its-abortion-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1080","title":{"rendered":"In Massachusetts governor\u2019s race, it\u2019s the economy, stupid. For Healey, it\u2019s abortion, too."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Governor Maura Healey\u2019s reelection pitch hinges on promises to corral Massachusetts\u2019 high cost of living, as she and other Democrats argue the party should shift its attention from the culture wars of past election cycles and toward the pocketbook pressures buffeting their constituents.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Still, Healey is holding tight to one key societal debate: Abortion rights, she\u2019s argued, remain a clear motivation for residents heading to the polls. <\/span><\/p>\n

Healey has homed in on federal rulings that could upend access to abortion pills through the mail, holding press conferences at the State House and firing off public statements. She\u2019s laced her bid for a second term with the argument that she\u2019s best suited to protect the right in Massachusetts against two Republican opponents who each say they have no intention of changing the law here.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In a Globe interview, the first-term Democrat said preserving access to abortion is not just a social issue, but also an economic one, a framing that appears intended to tap into residents\u2019 deep-seated concerns about being able to afford to live in a state that\u2019s simultaneously emerged as a major national provider of abortion care.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake about it, abortion is economic, and the ability to access abortion care or not has real consequences for women across this country,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has consequences in terms of their health \u2014 sometimes consequences are life or death \u2014 and it does have economic consequences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey is facing pressure to find ways to help ease Massachusetts\u2019 high costs. Residents are leaving the state, some in search of lower-cost locales; energy bills are reaching new highs; homeownership is out of reach for many; and child care costs here are among the nation\u2019s highest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLowering costs should be the focus of every elected official in America,\u201d Healey said during her State of the Commonwealth address in January. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly mine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott Ferson, a Massachusetts-based Democratic political strategist, said Healey is \u201cmost comfortable\u201d discussing protections for reproductive health care because of her background as a former attorney general who sued the Trump administration over access.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s enough crises here to occupy voters\u2019 . . . time,\u201d Ferson said of fears over both abortion access and the economy. \u201cAnd so she\u2019s right to talk about both.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey has long argued for increased access to abortion. <\/span><\/p>\n

The state stockpiled 15,000 doses of mifepristone in 2023 amid an early legal challenge to the drug, and Healey issued an executive order in 2024 confirming access to emergency abortion care in the state. Last year, she signed a bill that bolstered protections for doctors providing reproductive health care from legal repercussions in other states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jane Rayburn, a Massachusetts-based pollster who has worked with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Maine US Senate candidate Graham Platner, agreed that access to abortion has economic consequences, as people consider whether they can afford to have a child. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRestricting economic freedom, removing folks\u2019 autonomy from making these choices on how they build their family and their family\u2019s future, cuts right at the heart of the cost of living and affordability issues that we\u2019re all experiencing firsthand,\u201d Rayburn said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey has tried to bring her work on reproductive rights into sharper focus this year as two Republicans battle each other for their party\u2019s nomination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brian Shortsleeve, who led the MBTA under former governor Charlie Baker, said he supports the US Supreme Court\u2019s decision to maintain, at least temporarily, access to mifepristone through the mail. He also said he supports abortion rights, including the state\u2019s \u201ccurrent law as it is.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t change it,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Minogue, who won the Mass. GOP\u2019s gubernatorial endorsement last month, has described himself as a \u201cpro-life\u201d Catholic.<\/span><\/p>\n

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He runs a nearly $23 million family foundation with his wife, Renee Minogue, that has donated to groups that have touted pro-life stances, including $8,000 between 2018 and 2024 to Prager University, a conservative media organization whose founder, Dennis Prager,has said most abortions are not moral.<\/span><\/p>\n

The foundation also gave $5,000 in 2015 to the Massachusetts Family Institute, an antiabortion \u201cpro-family\u201d advocacy group, and $55,000 between 2023 and 2024 to Taylor University, an Indiana-based Christian institution that promotes a \u201csanctity of life statement.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Minogue did not respond to questions about the donations, but said Healey \u201dand the liberal media will try to weaponize\u201d abortion politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot change the Massachusetts abortion law. Politicians approach this issue to drive hate and divisiveness,\u201d he said in a statement to the Globe. \u201cAs a leader with faith, I have compassion and will support women with counseling, financial aid, and medical care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey cast both Republicans as threats to access here, arguing that neither will proactively stand up for reproductive rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be there to protect abortion access, and my opponents are not, and that\u2019s demonstrated by their actions, their words, their records,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Healey\u2019s campaign has capitalized on the abortion-related court rulings in fund-raising emails, casting a federal appeals court decision restricting medication abortion by mail as \u201cdangerous.\u201d (The US Supreme Court later issued a ruling preserving access to the drug.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Democratic Party has also targeted Minogue directly, dubbing him \u201cAnti-Abortion Mike Minogue\u201d because of his \u201cpro-life\u201d beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Claire Teylouni, interim executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, an abortion rights group, said voters have a lot on their minds this election cycle and accused the Trump administration of \u201ccreating chaos and uncertainty\u201d on a range of issues, including reproductive rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt might not be that abortion is the only issue shaping this race,\u201d she said, \u201cbut we do really believe it will be a significant one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Voters, too, say that the Massachusetts economy is a top issue, and likely Democratic voters said cost of living should be Healey\u2019s top focus, according to an April Suffolk University\/Boston Globe poll.<\/span><\/p>\n

But they also have mounting concerns about the future of abortion access. A UMass Amherst\/WCVB survey from 2025 found a decrease in the number of people \u2013 from 70 percent in October 2024 to 62 percent in February 2025 \u2013 who believed abortion would remain \u201csafe, legal, and accessible\u201d in Massachusetts following the US Supreme Court\u2019s decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022 by overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erin O\u2019Brien, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said abortion, at the very least, is a good \u201cwedge issue\u201d for Healey. But she said the gubernatorial race will largely focus on affordability.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving [abortion]there helps her for turnout,\u201d O\u2019Brien said, \u201cand to prevent people from going to the GOP.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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As she and other Democrats argue the party should focus less on the culture wars of past election cycles, Governor Maura Healey has elevated abortion access as an ‘economic issue.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Massachusetts governor\u2019s race, it\u2019s the economy, stupid. 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