On Monday, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy in the state of Massachusetts. The legislation removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon “the professional judgment of the physician” performing it, under the law. The bill is scheduled to take effect in 90 days.
Healey and supporters of the measure said the change in the law was needed because hospitals were increasingly refusing to provide abortions for women who already qualified for post‑24‑week abortions under existing law and that doctors needed clearer authority to reaffirm that medical judgment governs late‑term abortion decisions.
The Massachusetts Catholic Conference issued a statement on July 29 strongly opposing the measure: “As Catholic bishops we have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching and the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death. The proposed elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgement, a radical measure which is gravely immoral.”
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser condemned the signing of the “egregious” law in a statement, arguing that late-term abortions can involve dismemberment of the fetus. “It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year. Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill.”
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