The televised signing of one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey two weeks ago, while surrounded by a gaggle of applauding women, shocked and repulsed the nation and sparked severe criticism from both sides of the political aisle.According to WBUR, H.5595, the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, which Healey signed on August 10, 2026, eliminates the state’s existing 24-week gestational limit and the specific statutory conditions that previously restricted abortions later in pregnancy. The new law strips conditions such as allowing only a physician to perform the abortion and only if, in the best medical judgement of the physician, it’s necessary to preserve the life of the patient, preserve her mental health, or is warranted due to a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis that indicates the child cannot survive outside the womb.
Instead of these precautions, which are considered necessary to safeguard women due to the serious risks of late term abortion procedures, the new law now says simply, “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
The response was swift and severe, even from within the state’s legislature where nine Democrats voted against the bill. The most outspoken was Rep. Alan Silvia (D-Fall River) who publicly explained his opposition rather than keeping his vote quiet.
“Attempts to expand Abortion in Massachusetts from 24 weeks to birth is a yearly event,” Silvia told the Fall River Reporter. “Abortion was once tolerated and is now celebrated. We do all we can in Massachusetts to save baby whales and stray cats, yet we murder thousands of unborn children and in many cases the taxpayer pays for it. I’m opposed to any expansion of abortion.”
The medical community has also spoken out about the dangers of this expanded abortion law.
"There's something called the spectrum of disease, meaning I can't tell usually from just a picture how much or how little the patient's going to be affected," Pierucci said. "This thing is going on frequently. It's very disturbing that we're making life and death decisions with so little information."
She added, "If it was really about healthcare, then it would be about protecting both the mom and the baby . . . . Voting one off the island because there was a suspected diagnosis is just inconsistent to do no harm."
The state’s pro-life organizations reacted strongly to the bill’s passage. Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn criticized the bill for permitting so little professional oversight regarding the life of a viable unborn child.
"The good intentions of this bill's sponsors are gravely misplaced," Flynn told WBUR. "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.”
Equally egregious is how the bill strips away important safeguards protecting women from far more dangerous late term abortion procedures.
“While this legislation prioritizes access, it does not prioritize a woman's safety.”
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts Executive Director C. J. Doyle called the law “a brutal and barbarous measure, which will further expand child killing in a state whose abortion rate has already doubled in the last year.”
“Massachusetts will now have one of the most permissive abortion regimes in North America, joining only nine other states and the District of Columbia in having no gestational limits on abortion.
Doyle added: “Healey’s unsurprising decision to sign the measure into law reflects her continuing loyalty to her donor class in the abortion industry.”
Just before passage of the bill, the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts issued a statement decrying the legislation.
“The proposed elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgement, a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” the bishops wrote. “Life is beautiful! We invite the Catholic community to pray for a renewal of reverence for all human life. We reaffirm the Church’s call to its own community and to civil society to provide the resources to welcome and cherish the gift of life, as well as to accompany women and families who have known the tragedy of abortion. Let there be room in our hearts for the most vulnerable among us. May we recall and live the Lord's own word ‘whatsoever you do to the least of these you do to me.’”
Let us pray for the women and children who will be harmed by this immoral and deadly law.
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