Massachusetts Expected to Allow Abortions at Any Stage

Massachusetts is set to allow abortion at all stages, as the state Senate approved a bill and sent it to Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Friday.

The Details: The bill, which Healey is expected to pass, would remove all state restrictions on abortion and allow it at any stage under the "professional judgment of the physician" without outside interference.

Massachusetts' current legislation restricts abortion after 24 weeks gestation except in cases of fatal diagnoses or to "preserve" women's physical and/or mental health – as deemed necessary by a physician. The bill, titled H.5595 and dubbed "The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act" by proponents, passed 119-33 in the state's House last week. 

Key Quotes: "This bill ensures Massachusetts patients do not have to leave the Commonwealth to get care at any point," said the bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Robyn Kennedy (D). She asserted, "Massachusetts must continue closing gaps in care so that women have full autonomy over the care they need, when and where they need it."

"The good intentions of this bill's sponsors [are] gravely misplaced," said Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn. "As written, their abortion-up-to-birth bill permits one physician to subjectively decide that any unborn infant can be killed in or outside of a hospital, even babies capable of surviving outside the womb and feeling pain within it." 

She asserted, "Women experiencing unimaginable, heart-wrenching pregnancy complications absolutely deserve all the support they need, but that support is not what this bill provides. Instead, this bill ensures increased abortion industry profits and taxpayer-funded late-term procedures."

How The Media Covered It: The Senate's press release said the lawmakers voted "to keep government out of doctor's appointments" and used left-biased terminology such as "reproductive healthcare." It gave voice to four Democratic senators who supported the bill but no one who opposed it. 

Breitbart (Right bias) conversely gave voice to two Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill but no one who supported it. It highlighted that Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington, DC, have no abortion restrictions, while Associated Press (Lean Left) highlighted 13 states with some ban at all stages. 

AP said the bill is "expected to affect few cases," while Breitbart gave voice to a conservative representative who cautioned, "The precedent that we're setting is that a mother can get an abortion up until the moment of birth for a healthy, viable baby."

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