Politico Massachusetts Playbook | Roe Fallout

By LISA KASHINSKY and KELLY GARRITY 

Originally Published in the Politico Massachusetts Playbook, April 9th, 2024

UP FOR INTERPRETATION — Massachusetts Democrats slammed former President Donald Trump for saying on Monday that abortion should be left to the states. And they warned that he could still pursue a national abortion ban if reelected, even as he pointedly stopped of endorsing a blanket restriction.

Trump would “sign a national abortion ban as president,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted on X in response to Trump’s statement that “states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both” where reproductive rights go from here.

“Don’t let Donald Trump lie his way out of this,” Healey said in a statement. “[W]ith today’s position, he is supporting horrific abortion bans across the country.”

Healey repeated as much in a nighttime appearance on CNN, where the former attorney general was also asked point-blank if she would enforce a national abortion ban if Trump signed one.

“I have been trying to do everything I can as governor in my power to protect reproductive freedom,” Healey said. But she didn’t directly answer the hypothetical.

MEANWHILE — The abortion-rights advocacy group Reproductive Equity Now is urging the most prominent of Warren’s current Republican U.S. Senate rivals, John Deaton, to clarify his stance on abortion access. The group is also calling out Deaton over anti-abortion messages that his campaign manager, Michael Gorecki, posted online years ago, according to a letter that REN President Rebecca Hart Holder sent to Deaton’s campaign on Monday that was obtained by Playbook.

Deaton is “pro-choice,” and the father of three daughters has previously said Supreme Court justices “were wrong on Dobbs,” campaign spokesperson Jim Conroy said. Deaton “supports the laws of Massachusetts and will fight to protect them in the Senate,” Conroy added.

As for Gorecki: “Deaton is in charge of his campaign — no one else — and his name and his positions are those on the ballot,” Conroy said.