Reproductive Care Providers & Advocates Sound Alarm About Republican Gov. Nominee Geoff Diehl
Diehl has previously worked to ban abortion in Massachusetts
BOSTON – Reproductive health care providers and advocates are warning voters about the threat Republican gubernatorial nominee Geoff Diehl poses to patients, providers, and reproductive freedom in Massachusetts.
As a state representative, Diehl cosponsored multiple bills that would ban abortion and has proudly supported anti-abortion lawmakers and policies.
“This year, across the country, reproductive freedom is on the ballot and Massachusetts is no exception,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, Executive Director of Reproductive Equity Now. “The next Governor will be tasked with implementing critical protections for providers and patients, as well as ensuring that fake abortion clinics are not permitted to deceive patients from obtaining lifesaving abortion care. We need a leader who is committed to expanding access to reproductive health care, not a Governor who would go against the will of the people to restrict abortion in our Commonwealth. With a federal abortion ban looming in the coming years, Massachusetts cannot afford to have a Trump-backed, anti-abortion leader in the Governor’s Office.”
“Geoff Diehl’s candidacy is a grave threat to patients and providers,” said Nate Horwitz-Willis, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts. “Diehl is a fixture of the anti-abortion movement in Massachusetts – he’s even filed legislation to jail doctors for providing abortion care. We’re proud that Massachusetts has some of the strongest reproductive health protections in the country, but we cannot ignore how dangerous Diehl’s anti-abortion agenda is when the Supreme Court has robbed patients of their right to basic reproductive health care. We can’t allow Geoff Diehl near the Governor’s Office.”
“Geoff Diehl’s anti-science, anti-medicine agenda will do real harm to people in Massachusetts. At this moment of crisis, we need leadership that is committed to protecting patients and providers from hostile attacks on reproductive health care,” said Dr. Chloe Zera, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Boston. “As providers, our first priority is offering compassionate, loving, comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, for everyone who wants or needs it. We cannot afford to elect a Governor who threatens patient-centered care, especially in a state like Massachusetts that can continue to lead the way for reproductive freedom.”
Geoff Diehl has a long record of opposing reproductive health care. He cosponsored legislation that would punish doctors with up to five years in prison for providing abortion care. Diehl has openly praised governors like Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem, who have supported laws to place bounties on abortion providers. He campaigned with Noem, who supports her state’s extreme abortion ban, which has no exceptions for women who are raped or who are survivors of incest. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Diehl praised the decision and Donald Trump’s appointment of three Supreme Court justices, all of whom voted to end federal abortion protections.
Geoff Diehl is the preferred candidate of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, a radical anti-abortion group that regularly harasses patients entering Massachusetts clinics. The group’s top post-Roe priority is to stand up more anti-science programs to deceive women and deny them access to reproductive health care.
By contrast, Maura Healey is a national leader in protecting access to reproductive health care. Before she was Attorney General, she defended Massachusetts’ Buffer Zone Law to protect patients from harassment at health centers, investigated crisis pregnancy centers for deceptive practices, led efforts to protect the public safety of abortion providers, and worked on litigations in various federal courts to defend access to abortion. As Attorney General, Healey has been a champion for reproductive freedom and helped to position Massachusetts as a national leader in reproductive health care access with her support and strong advocacy for the ACCESS Law, which expanded access to contraception, and the ROE Act, which removed several anti-abortion restrictions from Massachusetts law in 2020. Healey has consistently fought for patients’ right to access reproductive health care in the face of the worst attacks on reproductive freedom in 50 years, challenging unconstitutional abortion restrictions across the country and taking on the Trump administration for its attacks on birth control access, Title X, and abortion via telehealth.
The Reproductive Equity Now PAC and Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts have both endorsed Maura Healey for Governor.
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