Massachusetts gov slammed for signing bill that allows abortion up to birth

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey is facing national backlash after signing a law that lets a single physician approve an abortion at any point during pregnancy – and for virtually any reason.

Critics focused on the broad text of the law, House Bill 5595, which Healey signed Monday. They also objected to the smiles and applause around Healey as she signed it.

“The joy as they applaud – truly horrific,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X.

Author and political scientist Charles Murray said the law should concern even some people who support legal abortion.

“Even for pro-choice people (which I am, technically), the question has to be faced: At what point is abortion indistinguishable from infanticide?” Murray wrote.

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser called the law barbaric.

“It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year,” she said in a statement. “Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill.”

The new law removes the state’s remaining legal tests for abortions after 24 weeks.

Under the old law, a doctor could approve an abortion at that stage to save the mother’s life or protect her physical and mental health. An abortion was also allowed if the unborn child had various severe health conditions. The fourth test covered a condition that made sustained life outside the womb unlikely without major medical care.

The new law removes all four tests.

It replaces them with one sentence: “An abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”

The law does not require a threat to the mother’s life or health. It does not require a fetal diagnosis. It contains no limit based on the child’s gestational age.

That means a physician can approve an elective abortion past 24 weeks. The text does not bar one when both the mother and unborn child are healthy.

The law also says a medical review process cannot overrule the treating physician and the patient. It removes the rule that required abortions after 24 weeks to take place in a hospital with obstetrical services.

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said Massachusetts erased its final legal safeguards for unborn children who could live outside the womb.

“At the very stage when premature babies are receiving lifesaving care in neonatal intensive care units, Massachusetts will permit abortionists to end the lives of children of the same age—and even older,” Tobias said in a statement. “That is not compassion, and it is not health care.”

Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn also condemned Healey’s action.

“Legalizing elective abortion up to birth on healthy mothers and healthy, pain-capable unborn children is not about protecting the doctor-patient relationship,” Flynn said in a statement. “It is about abortionists normalizing the deaths of fully-developed infants and pressuring vulnerable women to permit their unborn children to die in heinous acts of violence.”

The Massachusetts House first approved the bill 119-33 on July 22. The Senate passed it July 31 after suspending its rules. The law will take effect 90 days after Healey signed it.

State data show Massachusetts doctors performed 99 abortions at 24 weeks or later in 2024. The state reported 84 such abortions in 2023.

Heartlander News previously reported that Massachusetts lawmakers have loosened the state’s abortion laws several times in recent years.

The Legislature passed the ROE Act over then-Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto in 2020. It widened the grounds for abortion after 24 weeks. It also lowered the age at which a girl may obtain an abortion without a parent’s consent from 18 to 16.

Lawmakers passed another abortion law in 2022. That measure shields Massachusetts abortion providers from some legal action brought by pro-life states. It also requires state-regulated health plans to cover abortion without cost sharing. Baker signed that one into law.

Photo credit: Mass.gov