Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) signed a bill this week stripping the state of its gestational limits on abortion. It has now become the tenth state to allow abortion up to birth, joining Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.
The legislation, called the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, updates the state’s law to allow physicians to rely on their medical judgment when navigating pregnancy terminations. The law ensures that patients facing fetal diagnoses, complications, or other medical matters can receive what the Massachusetts says is care without facing legal issues. Under previous state law, doctors were required to determine if a patient’s circumstances met specific exceptions before providing an abortion.
“I’ve heard heartbreaking stories from women and families who were preparing to welcome a healthy baby into their family, only to receive devastating news later in their pregnancy. Instead of being able to rely on the doctors they knew and trusted at home, they were forced to travel hundreds of miles and pay out of their pockets while navigating unimaginable grief,” Healey said in a statement released by her office. “That should never happen in Massachusetts. This law continues our efforts to have the strongest abortion protections in the country because in Massachusetts, we believe health care decisions should be made between women and their doctors.”
Upon signing the bill, Healey wrote on X, “In Massachusetts, women and their families shouldn’t have to cross state lines for abortion care doctors can provide in our state.” She added, “Real freedom means health care decisions belong to women and their doctors. Not their government.”
