abortion

The Massachusetts House passed a radical bill legalizing all late-term abortions in the Bay State.

On July 22, the House passed H. 5595, “An Act prioritizing patient access to care.” The legislation essentially removes all remaining restriction on abortion in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) warns.

The Massachusetts House passed H. 5595 by an overwhelming 119-33 vote. Nine Democrat members joined all 24 present Republican members in opposing the bill.

“It allows abortion past 24 weeks with no requirement of medical justification, meaning abortions could be performed at full term, just days before natural birth, for any reason or no reason at all,” MFI advises.

Under current Massachusetts law, abortion is only legal past 24 weeks if 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 indicating the fetus is incompatible with life.

It’s important to note current Massachusetts law already provides massive loopholes for women to abort their child late in pregnancy, since the law’s “physical or mental health” exception provides wide latitude for abortionists to determine when an abortion is “necessary.”

H. 5595 would make the state’s already permissive abortion law even more radical by striking out existing limitations on late-term abortion and including the following language (with no restrictions):

The bill would also do away with the existing medical review process “and the reporting safeguard for late-term procedures,” MFI states.

In effect, H. 5595 would weaken what little safeguards for life exist in Massachusetts and expressly legalize all abortions on demand for any reason in state law.

“While abortion proponents argue that late-term abortions are rare,” MFI states, “expanding this barbaric practice does serious damage to our society’s moral foundation.”

“Protecting unborn life and caring for women are not opposing goals. Real compassion means building up support for mothers, not removing every check on when a life can be ended.”

The bill now goes to the Massachusetts Senate for consideration. Gov. Maura Healey has not indicated whether she would sign the bill. Last year the governor approved a shield law to protect abortion providers in Massachusetts from prosecution for prescribing and sending abortion drugs to individuals out of state.

Christian citizens can respond to H. 5595 in three ways. First, MFI is urging Massachusetts citizens to take action and urge their state senator to vote no on S. 1563, the Senate version of the bill. The organization is also calling on Christians who live in Massachusetts to call the Senate Ways and Means Committee at (617) 722-1481 and urge every member to vote against the bill.

Second, Christians nationwide should pray for wisdom and conviction for Massachusetts legislators to defeat the radical abortion legislation.

Finally, Christians can get involved by volunteering with their local pregnancy resource center or donating to Focus on the Family’s Option Ultrasound ministry to help save babies from abortion.

If you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

How You Can Join the Pro-Life Movement

Photo from Shutterstock.

A significant pro-life legal battle is unfolding in Missouri, and it demonstrates exactly what’s at stake when an abortion amendment is approved and added to a state constitution.

At issue is whether states may continue to enforce longstanding health and safety regulations governing abortionists or whether those legal protections will be deemed unconstitutional under adopted state constitutional language.

In 2024, Missouri approved Amendment 3, which enshrined abortion in the state constitution. Following its passage, Planned Parenthood filed a legal challenge to invalidate numerous statutes governing abortion.

The lawsuit went beyond targeting laws related to when a woman can get an abortion. It sought to repeal provisions related to informed consent requirements, chemical abortion protocols, waiting periods and facility safety requirements.

The 221-page complaint also asked the court to issue an injunction to block the laws from being enforced while the case is litigated.

After a ten-day trial in January, the trial judge ruled largely in Planned Parenthood’s favor in June 2026.

The decision invalidated many abortion-related statutes, including Missouri’s 72-hour waiting period, restrictions on chemical abortion and several licensing and operational standards for abortion facilities.

The court preserved a small number of medical safeguards, like in-person visits, to rule out an ectopic pregnancy and confirm the gestational age of the baby.

Missouri recently appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The central issue before the court is not just whether abortion is constitutionally protected, but whether a constitutional “right” to abortion bars the state from maintaining reasonable health and safety standards for abortionists.

Impact on Abortion Policy

This case demonstrates a number of important effects these developments have on abortion policy in a state.

First, the long-term impact of passing unrestricted abortion amendments.

Pro-life advocates repeatedly warned that passing an abortion amendment would result in common-sense laws meant to protect the public being repealed. Abortion activists denied those claims. Pro-life advocates were right, and abortion activists were intentionally denying the truth about the far-reaching impact of enshrining abortion access in the state constitution.

Second, this case also illustrates how quickly the legal landscape can change.

Laws meant to protect the public, enacted over many years by the people’s elected representatives, were invalidated in a single ruling by one court.

Abortion Amendment Back on the Ballot

For the first time nationwide, state voters will be asked to vote on their recently enacted abortion amendment this fall in Missouri.

The initiative to enshrine abortion was passed by a very narrow margin in 2024 — 51% to 48%.

This new ballot measure would allow abortion until 12 weeks’ gestation and would allow exceptions in the cases of rape and incest.

The measure was referred to the ballot by the state legislature and not only repeals the 2024 abortion amendment but would also ban opposite sex transgender surgeries for minors.

Latest public polling on this measure from February 2026 shows support at 47%, opposition at 40% and undecided at 12%.

Missouri law requires all constitutional amendments earn a simple majority (50% plus 1) to become law.

The case isComprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, et al. v. State of Missouri.

The Daily Citizen will continue following this developing story.

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On Independence Day, Americans celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday with much pomp and circumstance, especially in Washington D.C., which featured a presidential address and a dazzling display of 850,000 fireworks.

The day also marked an unhappy development – the resumption of federal taxpayer dollars flowing into the coffers of Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider.

It’s tragic a day celebrating the Declaration of Independence, which acknowledges each person’s right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” became the day Planned Parenthood began raking in millions of dollars again.

The abortion giant cruelly denies those fundamental rights to preborn infants.

Last year, Congress successfully defunded Planned Parenthood for the first time in history, depriving the abortion business of roughly $850 million. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, cut taxes on American families, provided billions for border security and national defense, and defunded abortion organizations for a period of one year.

The defund provision (Section 71113) prohibited federal Medicaid dollars from going to any “prohibited entity” that provides abortions and received over $800,000 in Medicaid funding as of 2023.

The OBBBA originally contained a provision to defund Planned Parenthood for a 10-year period. However, this was drastically reduced to one year after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the 10-year provision violated the chamber’s rules.

For months, it was unclear whether Section 71113 would take full effect after federal district Judge Indira Talwani, nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama, blocked the provision just days after the bill’s enactment.

Eventually, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit overturned Talwani’s decision and allowed Section 71113 to take effect. The provision formally expired on July 4, 2026.

The Hyde amendment generally prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from directly paying for abortions. But before Section 71113’s enactment, Planned Parenthood could receive federal monies, including government grants, contracts and Medicaid reimbursements, for other services.

All money is fungible, so these federal dollars subsidized the abortion business, allowing it to pay salaries, sustain operating expenses and expand into new locations.

In part because of the defunding from the OBBBA, Planned Parenthood closed nearly 50 clinics last year due to financial headwinds.

However, several blue states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, stepped in to bail out the organization and provided over $202.5 million in supplemental funding to Planned Parenthood.

The Senate passed the OBBBA through the reconciliation process, allowing the bill to proceed with a simple majority vote (51) rather than the usually required 60 votes.

More recently, Congress passed a second bill through the reconciliation process in June 2026, providing $70 billion for increased immigration enforcement.

The legislative body could pass one more reconciliation package before the end of the year, but Republican lawmakers are divided on their priorities.

The conservative House Freedom Caucus recently penned a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson calling for a Reconciliation 3.0 bill that extends the OBBBA’s “prohibition of federal funding for abortion providers to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to subsidize the radical abortion industry.”

However, according to The Hill, many Senate Republicans “are cooler” to the idea with some lawmakers expressing a “general reluctance … to start an abortion fight so close to the midterms.”

In a statement to The Hill, pro-life activist Lila Rose said allowing Section 71113 to expire was a “moral failure” in need of correction.

“President Trump and Congress must act as fast as possible to restore and extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood and every organization that commits abortion,” Rose said.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said, “Defunding Big Abortion is now the default expectation of the pro-life movement. When they return to D.C., Republicans must do all they can through reconciliation to once again block taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.”

Indeed, an organization that kills over 400,000 preborn children each year does not deserve one red cent of taxpayer money. Congress must extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood, protecting Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, preborn babies and their mothers from the tragedy of abortion.

At Focus on the Family, we have been working to turn the cultural tide and save mothers and babies from abortion for years. Since beginning the Option Ultrasound Program in 2004, Focus has helped save over half a million lives. Just $60 will help save a life through Option Ultrasound. Will you partner with us to save lives from abortion?

If you are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and want to learn more about your options, you can visit My Choice Network.

Related articles and resources:

My Choice Network

I’m Pregnant, Now What?

Dealing With Unplanned Pregnancy

Become an Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

New Insights on the Dangers of the Abortion Pill

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

Congress Must Extend Defund of Planned Parenthood

New Planned Parenthood Annual Report: More Abortions, Fewer Services

Planned Parenthood Drops Suit After Trying to Force Taxpayers to Fund Abortions

House Passes ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ Finally Defunding Planned Parenthood

Photo from Getty Images.