Massachusetts Removes Abortion Restrictions, Allows Abortion Up to Birth
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy signed the “Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act,” a radical abortion bill that removed the state’s restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks. State laws allow the killing of an infant in the womb up until birth.
The Massachusetts Legislature showed its contempt for preborn life as bill H. 5595 was rushed through the legislative process in just nine days, from its introduction on July 22nd to the final vote on July 31st. The measure passed the House by a vote of 121-35 and the Senate by a vote of 15-4.
Governor Healy, who identifies as Catholic and lesbian, posted a video of herself signing the bill – surrounded by smiling women who applauded the death of preborn infants. She wrote, “As long as I’m Governor, abortion will remain safe, legal and accessible in Massachusetts.”
Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), a Focus on the Family ally, responded with the truth:“Abortion is never safe for the innocent child whose life is being taken!”
The Catholic Church vehemently opposes the abortion of preborn infants, as many on social media pointed out to the governor.
The church has called abortion a sin from its very beginnings, and Catholic teaching explains the right to life is fundamental and inalienable, calling abortion “a grave moral disorder.” Abortion is a “crime against human life” that merits “the canonical penalty of excommunication.”
Healy also dropped the term many abortion advocates used to espouse, the claim that they desired to make abortion “rare.”
H. 5595 removed previous state restrictions, including one that required abortions after 24 weeks to only be performed by a physician. It eliminated legal restrictions that allowed third trimester abortions only “if in the best medical judgement of the physician it is”:
1. Necessary to preserve the life of the patient.
2. Necessary to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.
3. Warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis.
4. Warranted because of a grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions.
In abortion laws, phrases like “necessary to preserve the life of the patient” and “necessary to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health” already provide loopholes for women to abort her child past 24 weeks.
MFI explained more of the legal requirements the Act removed from state law:
According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Massachusetts is now the 12th state with no gestational restrictions on abortion. In addition, 18 states that permit abortion have such broad “health exceptions” that they have virtually no limits on abortion.
In a post on X, the organization called the legislation “barbaric.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, many Christians thought the issue was settled: Abortion was no longer a “constitutional right.”
But Dobbs merely turned the issue back to the states and Congress – with legislators and voters deciding the issue. And groups like Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All have spent millions to pass laws keeping the abortion of infants legal – even up to the point of birth.
We are still engaged in the battle for life. It’s vital that all Christians advocate for life in both culture and policy, support campaigns to restrict abortion, pray for an end to abortion, and support pregnancy resource centers and women who choose life.
Related articles and resources:
Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate
Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy
How You Can Join the Pro-Life Movement
Massachusetts House Passes Bill Legalizing Abortion Until Birth
New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill
Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life
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