Doctors skeptical on Pa. governor candidate Stacy Garrity’s abortion pivot

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, running against Gov. Josh Shapiro, campaigned with an anti-abortion governor on Sunday.

Doctors aren’t buying into Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity softening her views on abortion access and reproductive health care after she finished campaigning with Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry this past Sunday. 

The two spoke with Brandon Stroka at the Washington County Republican Party’s “Walkaway” themed fall dinner.

Prior to announcing her gubernatorial campaign to challenge Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in next year’s election, Garrity removed anti-abortion merchandise from her campaign website and refused to answer questions about her views on abortion in an interview with Politico.

“[Garrity] is campaigning with the most restrictive [anti-abortion] governor. I don’t know what to tell you other than believe what they tell you the first time around,” Dr. Phil Hirshman, Montgomery County based obstetrics women’s health and gynecology (OBGYN) doctor, told reporters during an online press conference on Monday. 

Louisiana is considered one of the most abortion-restrictive states in the country. 

It has a near total abortion ban that was originally passed in 2006 but went into effect after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs decision. In 2022, the state’s previous governor signed a law criminalizing abortion providers. 

After Landry assumed office in 2024, he signed a bill banning access to mifepristone and misoprostol by labeling them a controlled substance, potentially delaying life-saving reproductive care. As a result, possession of mifepristone and misoprostol in Louisiana could lead to one to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, while doctors could face up to 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine for prescribing the medicine. 

Earlier this year, a Baton Rouge grand jury indicted a New York doctor for prescribing the medication patients online. 

This left Hirshman and his colleagues wondering if they can trust Garrity’s updated stance on protecting abortion access. 

“ I believe people are capable of change, but I can tell you that Governor Shapiro has been consistent in our message, supporting the science, supporting human rights, supporting women’s healthcare, supporting healthcare in general,” Hirshman said.  

“I don’t see that from Garrity.  I just don’t. I am extremely skeptical, and if this is someone who’s in lockstep with the current federal administration, we’ve already seen that script where they’ve said one thing and then done another.  I’m not gonna get burned twice.”