As the nation closely monitors the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, which could determine party control in the Senate for the next two years, the heated abortion issue survives even in the typically blue Bay State.
Megan Amundson, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, said political history could not accurately predict the voting outcome for this social issue.
“I don’t consider Massachusetts a particularly liberal state,” she said. “I know that it has that perception. I think that Massachusetts can be surprisingly socially conservative in some areas.”
Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said Scott Brown’s pro-life voting record helped him win former U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat in 2010, making him the first Republican senator from Massachusetts since 1972.
Fox also said the 2012 state elections could be greatly affected by the pro-life voting bloc.
“I certainly don’t think Romney is going to win in Massachusetts, but I think that the pro-life vote will show up in the Senate race,” Fox said.
Fox said one factor that got Brown elected was his plan to vote pro-life and against Obamacare.
“He won by a small amount which we felt, mathematically, some of which could certainly be attributed to the pro-life vote,” she said.
Fox also said economic shifts within specific neighborhoods of Boston could alter the traditional voting record.
“I think East Boston and Charleston have all become a little bit gentrified,” she said. “And whether that makes them more liberal or not I don’t know, but it does make them different in how they vote.”
While Brown has identified himself as pro-choice through personal statements and at political rallies, his voting record would classify him as a pro-life candidate, said Tricia Wajda, director of public affairs for the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts.
“Scott Brown voted to appeal the Affordable Care Act, and he remains opposed to it,” she said. “He has been very inconsistent with his record, and we just can’t rely on him to be a reliable candidate for women’s health.”
Democratic senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren has presented a pro-choice stance on abortion in her support of the Affordable Care Act.
A more distinct difference on the abortion stance lies in the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District race.
Although Fox said MCFL does not endorse Brown because he is not pro-life, the MCFL endorses Republican candidate Sean Bielat.
Bielat reiterated at a debate at Wellesley College on Tuesday that he is against abortion and opposes the Affordable Care Act.
“I am pro-life,” Bielat said. “I think, though, when I hear women’s issues, I hear the issues that matter to us all.”
Democratic candidate Joe Kennedy III, however, said he supported the Affordable Care Act and identifies as a pro-choice candidate in the debate.
“Joe believes a woman’s right to choose is a matter of fundamental personal liberty and will always defend our ability to access safe and confidential healthcare,” said Emily Brown, Kennedy’s communications director.
David Palmer, a professor of political science at Boston University, said the issue of abortion as well as other women’s health issues is important in this election.
“It is a very important issue, not exclusively to women but certainly to women,” he said.
But abortion is not only politicized as a social issue, Palmer said.
“I would say that contraception and women’s health in general is an important issue economically as well as in other ways,” he said.
Wajda also said abortion is also an economic issue.
“We would gladly not politicize women’s health,” she said. “But the fact of the matter is that it has been, and women’s health is now an economic issue in the sense that affording birth control and basic preventative care costs money.”
Wajda said the current political direction on women’s health is cause for concern.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago if this was the direction we would be moving towards regarding women’s healthcare, I would never, never have predicted this,” she said.
But Fox said Massachusetts has given the worst support for MCFL’s cause.
“Historically, or at least fairly recently, the legislation was pretty supportive of pro-life legislation,” she said. “Congress started off pretty supportive and isn’t now at all but the Senate.”
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