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# Brian Shortsleeve Sides With Maura Healey, Backs New Law With No Gestational Limit on Elective Abortions
- URL: https://www.newbostonpost.com/brian-shortsleeve-healey-elective-abortions-third-trimester/
- Published: 2026-08-12T18:38:50.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-12T18:38:50.000Z
- Description: Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve says he backs Gov. Maura Healey’s new Massachusetts law allowing elective abortions throughout the third trimester.
- Author: State House News Service
- Tags: News, Politics, Massachusetts, #lead, #morning-bell, morning-bell, #2

Ella Adams  
State House News Service

Gov. Maura Healey on Monday signed a bill loosening abortion restrictions after 24 weeks of gestation, and her gubernatorial opponents had something to say about it. She's got a co-signer in Brian Shortsleeve … and not so much in Mike Minogue, whose campaign said he'd "rather see the people of Massachusetts voice their opinion and decide this - not the politicians." 

Shortsleeve campaign spokesman Pat Nestor said Shortsleeve "has been clear throughout this campaign that he is pro-choice and believes these deeply personal decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor." 

Shortsleeve called himself a "pro-choice Republican" in May, and Nestor backed that up Monday. "This legislation is largely consistent with protections already established under current Massachusetts law, and as governor, Brian would sign it into law," Nestor said. 

Minogue took a different approach: "I’ve been very clear about my position on this issue. It’s driven by my faith and my experience in health care," he said in a statement, referring to his time leading medical device company Abiomed. "I’m disappointed the governor is playing extreme politics with women’s health."

Minogue has called himself Catholic and "pro-life," but said in May he'd "uphold the law" as governor. 

He added Monday that most people "don’t want this to be a political issue" and that "this is not what I hear voters asking about on the campaign trail."

Shortsleeve's campaign took a stab at both Minogue and Healey, too, writing that Healey "wants the general election to be about abortion rather than her failures on affordability, taxes, and the economy," and that Minogue is "vulnerable" to her "attacks," putting Republicans "at a significant disadvantage in a general election matchup."