Stacy Garrity calls Pennsylvania abortion rights push “disgusting”

Pennsylvania Treasurer and Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity called a push to expand abortion rights in the commonwealth “disgusting.”

She was specifically referring to House Bill 1957, which proposes enshrining a right to abortion, contraception, and fertility care into the state constitution. It passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with only Democratic votes and now faces an uncertain future in the GOP-led Senate.

“We gotta keep the majority in the Senate,” Garrity said at a Dec. 16 campaign event in Greene County. “The state house—they’re in this week—and you know what they’re doing? Running abortion bills all week. Isn’t that nice? Right before the birth of Jesus … It’s really disgusting.”

Garrity’s remark was later echoed by Republican state Rep. Marla Brown, who used a floor speech to compare abortion in America to the extermination of six million Jewish people in Nazi Germany before making a similar Christmas-themed argument.

“I find it so ironic that so many in this House made posts around the Capitol Christmas tree last week acknowledging a season which Christians consider one of the holiest of the year,” Brown said on Dec. 17. “A time when a baby was born to a virgin. Mary: the first mother that said yes to an unplanned pregnancy.”

Brown has endorsed Garrity’s campaign.

Garrity, who has served as treasurer since 2021, has a long record of opposing abortion rights. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, she wrote on Facebook that it was a “great day for the sanctity of life” and declared “justice has prevailed.”

In another post, Garrity wrote “Pennsylvania needs a PRO-LIFE governor.”

If Garrity secures the Republican nomination, she will likely face incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in the 2026 election. Shapiro campaigned on expanding abortion rights in his 2022 campaign. 

“I believe that abortion is health care, and I will defend it,” Shapiro said at a 2022 rally. “I trust the women of Pennsylvania to make decisions over your own bodies.”

In 2025, Shapiro successfully campaigned for state Supreme Court candidates on the same mantle.

Multiple polls indicate that most Pennsylvania voters do not want abortion access restricted.