Democrat Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Abortion Until Birth
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed legislation removing the state's 24-week gestational limit on abortion, making it the eleventh U.S. jurisdiction to permit the procedure throughout pregnancy.
The legislation, formally titled “An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care” and designated H.5595, eliminates the state’s existing 24-week restriction on abortions. That previous limit had included exceptions for cases involving the mother’s life or a fatal fetal diagnosis. Under the new law, physicians are granted discretion to determine whether to carry out late-term abortion procedures.
Maura Healey defended the measure by framing it as a matter of family choice in difficult circumstances. She stated that parents facing devastating diagnoses would now be empowered to make their own decisions regarding care.
During the bill signing ceremony, Healey positioned the move as a direct challenge to federal Republican leadership and the Supreme Court, vowing that Massachusetts would continue ensuring access to abortion services regardless of actions taken in Washington.
Massachusetts now joins a group of ten other jurisdictions—Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington, DC—that permit abortion without gestational limits throughout pregnancy.
The bill cleared both chambers of the Democrat-controlled state legislature last month, though not without significant opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Republican state Representative Alyson Sullivan-Almeida characterized the day of passage as a dark moment for the commonwealth, warning that the law sets a precedent allowing abortion up until the moment of birth for a healthy, viable baby.
Pro-Life Groups Condemn the Measure
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of SBA Pro-Life America, issued a forceful statement condemning Healey’s signature on what she termed the “Abortion Up Until Birth Bill.”
Dannenfelser argued that tens of thousands of unborn children are already killed through late-term dismemberment procedures annually, and that this number will rise under Massachusetts’ new policy. She called on Republicans to abandon a states-rights approach to abortion policy and instead pursue federal protections for the unborn.
Without a national minimum standard, Dannenfelser noted, the United States remains one of only eight countries worldwide that allows abortion at any stage of pregnancy—a status she described as an ugly chapter in American history that must be closed.
With information from Breitbart
