Endorsing conservatives Geoff Diehl for U.S. Senate and Jim Lyons for state representative may have cost Governor Charlie Baker the endorsement of a pro-abortion organization.
NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts has endorsed Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez over Baker, a Republican who has been an enthusiastic supporter of legal abortion and public funding for abortion.
“While Governor Baker claims to be pro-choice, he has repeatedly betrayed women and families,” the Massachusetts chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League said in a press release Tuesday.
The organization highlighted his support for Diehl, whom he tepidly endorsed after the state primary earlier this month, and Lyons, a Republican from Andover, for whom he attended a fund raiser on August 27.
The written statement says that Baker “held a fundraiser for the most vocal anti-choice member of the State Legislature,” meaning Lyons; and that he “endorsed a candidate for U.S. Senate who would vote to appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court,” meaning Diehl.
The NARAL statement also mentions Baker’s veto of a bill that would have lifted a cap on state welfare payments to women who have additional children while on welfare – an issue that some pro-lifers would agree with the organization about, for fear it might encourage poor women to have abortions.
Gonzalez, according to the organization, accepted the endorsement and tied it to the current confirmation process of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“I am honored to receive the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the organization which is leading the charge here in Massachusetts against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts leads the way in protecting a woman’s right to access reproductive healthcare in our state and needs a champion in the corner office. I will be an ally to NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and to women across this state not just some of the time, but all of the time.”
