Planned Parenthood is pleased to unveil our 2014 voter guide and offer voters information on which candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General will protect women’s access to health care and support sexuality education in schools.
The guide contains information collected from an issue-based questionnaire that the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund distributed to all candidates in the races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. Candidates signed the questionnaire with the understanding their answers would be made public. We learn a lot about the candidates through their questionnaire answers, and we’re glad to share our knowledge with voters so they can vote based on their priorities and values. We hope other organizations will follow our lead and share the information they obtain from candidates.
Voters and candidates should engage in robust, informed discussions about issues that matter to Massachusetts residents – and our voter guide is one way to facilitate that. The more we engage voters with issues important to them, the more we inspire them to vote and then hold candidates accountable once in office.
We are proud to endorse Martha Coakley for Governor and Maura Healey for Attorney General; both won our endorsement because they are proven women’s health champions. As the state’s leading advocate for women’s health, we want to make sure voters understand the positions of all the statewide candidates, not just those who we endorse. We are fortunate to have many supportive candidates in the races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. Whether you’re heading to the Democratic Convention this weekend or voting in the primary election on September 9, we’re happy to help you be better informed.
If women’s health matters to you (as it does to most voters), please go to http://bit.ly/PPVoterGuide to see where the candidates stand on issues such as:
- Access to safe, legal abortion;
- Comprehensive sexuality education in schools; and
- The buffer zone law that protects patient safety outside reproductive health centers.
This election will usher in a new era for Massachusetts. Together, we can and will elect candidates who champion women’s health and comprehensive sexuality education.
He wins by default, yes?
so you should not assume anything as far as an endorsement unless the organization goes on record with such an endorsement.
Our endorsement of Martha Coakley for governor applies to both the primary election and general election. We will not separately endorse in the Republican primary.
Might one still be forthcoming?
As first in line to succeed the governor, it is important to elect a lieutenant governor who will champion women’s health. We are fortunate to have many supportive candidates in the race for lieutenant governor, but no one candidate has distinguished him/herself enough as a champion of women’s health to earn our endorsement.
I clicked on your link and down the line all of the Democratic candidates for Governor and AG answered Yes for all your questions. There is not a degree of difference between them. Tolman fought for the Buffer Zone in the Senate, Steve Grossman and Don Berwick off the top of my head led their businesses in a manner that was pro-women’s health and Berwick in particular has been a doctor and health care access advocate/policy specialist his entire career. What did these candidates, besides being women, and besides one of them being the front runner in her race, offer that set them apart?
I don’t doubt there are better reasons than that, but your website shows the questions were answered in a way similar to the LG race where there was
no endorsement. Why none there but one here when it seems like a similar situation?
I’m disappointed that you didn’t make the same decision about the race for governor.
I’m quite certain that Don Berwick and Warren Tolman will just as effectively “champion women’s health and comprehensive sexuality education” as your chosen candidates. I am forced wonder if gender bias is a factor in your decision to make and announce these endorsements now.
You could have at least waited until after the convention. It appears that you are attempting to influence the convention results.
I’m disappointed in Planned Parenthood.
Since several people have asked about our endorsement process, we want to clarify that gender is not a factor when our board makes endorsement decisions. As you’ll see in our list of endorsed candidates this year, we endorse numerous male candidates: http://www.pplmvotes.org/electoral-work/2014-massachusetts-elections-endorsements.html
For more information about why the PPAF Board voted to endorse Martha Coakley for Governor, please visit our website: http://www.pplmvotes.org/newsroom/press-releases/243-planned-parenthood-endorses-martha-coakley-for-governor.html.
To learn more about the decision to endorse Maura Healey for Attorney General, please refer to this May blog post by PPAF President Marty Walz: http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/2014/05/healey-is-the-champion-for-womens-health-we-need/