(The Center Square) – A bill permitting abortion through all nine months of pregnancy passed both the Massachusetts House and Senate and awaits the signature of Gov. Maura Healey.
Opponents call it “extreme” legislation that will force taxpayers to fund abortions even late in a pregnancy and proponents stating women seeking late-term abortions will no longer have to travel out-of-state.
Communications director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Kelsey Pritchard told The Center Square that “Massachusetts’ new abortion bill is very extreme, legalizing abortion on demand until birth, paid for by taxpayers.”
Massachusetts’ Bill H.5595 – also called the Prioritizing Patients’ Access to Care Act – allows “abortion through all nine months for any reason based on a doctor’s ‘professional judgment,’” Pritchard said.
“Under this law the abortionist, who profits financially from performing the abortion, is the sole approver,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard informed The Center Square that “second- and third-trimester abortions are brutal and barbaric, generally done by dismembering the baby or inducing labor.”
“The latter may result in a live birth if the abortionist has not first delivered a lethal injection into the baby’s heart, which many admit they do not,” Pritchard said.
One of Massachusetts’ abortion bill sponsors, state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, told The Center Square she supports the legislation because she believes “medical decisions belong between patients and their doctors, not the Legislature.”
Sabadosa sees the bill as ensuring “that physicians in Massachusetts can provide care based on their best medical judgment and the unique needs of each patient.”
“Once signed into law, patients will no longer be forced to leave Massachusetts to receive care that should be available here,” Sabadosa said.
“Massachusetts is home to some of the best health care in the nation, and this bill affirms that our physicians are best equipped to make these deeply personal and medically complex decisions,” Sabadosa said.
The Center Square reached out to bill sponsor Rep. Christine Barber, House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, chair of the House Committee on Ways & Means Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, and proponent of the bill Sen. Robin Kennedy. None responded by publishing time.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed Bill H.5595 on July 22, with the Senate following suit on July 31. The bill now awaits Healey’s signature.
Healey’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.
Massachusetts’ previous abortion law allowed for the procedure as late as 24 weeks, at which point babies “are capable of smiling, reacting to loud noises, and surviving outside the womb” Pritchard told The Center Square.
Pritchard noted that “the U.S. is 1 of 8 countries in the world along with China that allow abortion at any point, according to a 2024 study.”
“Another study completed in 2024 shows 46 of 50 countries in Europe limit abortion after 15 weeks,” Pritchard said.
“When Gov. Healey signs this bill into law, Massachusetts will join 10 states and Washington, D.C. with an all-trimester abortion policy where babies are killed after the point they can survive outside of the womb,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard told The Center Square that “radical late-term abortion laws” such as Massachusetts’ are supported by only 10% of Americans and such laws “are enabled by the ‘states-only’ philosophy on abortion.”
“The GOP must abandon the failed ‘leave it to the states’ position and move the country toward a national protection for unborn children across this nation – from California to New York, and now Massachusetts,” Pritchard said.
