House Democrats to pass bill to make Massachusetts’ late-term abortion laws among nation’s broadest

In the 11th hour of the legislative session, Massachusetts Democratic leaders said they will pass a bill that would dramatically broaden the state’s already-liberal abortion laws by making it easier for women to terminate late-term pregnancies.

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The Massachusetts House on Wednesday will vote on the bill, which, if signed into law, could make Massachusetts’ law among the country’s broadest.

Currently, those in Massachusetts can terminate pregnancies up to 24 weeks’ gestation, and beyond that, doctors are permitted to perform abortions under specific circumstances, including only if it’s necessary to preserve a patient’s life.

The legislation would instead leave the decision to end a pregnancy at 24 weeks or later up to “the professional judgement of a physician” alone.

State Representative Christine Barber said the bill was inspired by people who have left Massachusetts to seek late-term abortion care elsewhere.

The number of abortions performed in Massachusetts has doubled in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to individually place restrictions on the procedure. But there are some in Massachusetts who have chosen to seek care elsewhere.

“Patients have to leave to other states, leave their support network, and pay out of pocket,” Barber, a Somerville Democrat, said. “You should be able to get care that your doctors are recommending here in Massachusetts.”

Barber specifically referenced the harrowing journey made by Kate Dineen, who in 2022 traveled to Maryland for an emergency abortion after 24 weeks, the Globe reported.

At 33 weeks, Dineen’s son suffered a catastrophic stroke and there was a 50 percent chance he would die before birth, her doctor said. Dineen and her husband drove 500 miles to a clinic in Maryland ― one of a handful in the country that performs late-in-pregnancy abortions ― and paid about $10,000 out of pocket for the procedure.

The current law states that abortions are allowed after 24 weeks in the case of “a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis . . . or grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions.”

“Because there is a strict legal framework, it isn’t accounting for a number of complicated medical conditions where a doctor and patient decide to have an abortion,” Barber said.

Claire Teylouni, the interim executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, said while changes to state law have expanded patient access to reproductive care later in their pregnancies, “patients are still being denied care here in Massachusetts.”

Her organization estimates that dozens of patients annually leave the state to seek care elsewhere.

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“No statutory exceptions framework is ever going to be able to accommodate all of the nuances of pregnancy,” Teylouni said. “Ultimately, our intent with this [bill] is to put the decision-making power into the hands of patients with their doctors to be able to make informed decisions.”

The legislation has the support of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, Barber said. Steve Walsh, a former House lawmaker, currently leads the influential hospital group.

In a joint statement, House Speaker Ron Mariano and budget chief Aaron Michlewitz said the legislation would ensure abortion access that is “unencumbered by a legal framework that, in practice, isn’t always capable of accounting for the complexity and uncertainty inherent to pregnancy-related health care.”

Massachusetts Democrats have, for years, taken steps to further bolster reproductive rights in the state.

In 2022, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning abortion legalization to the states in its landmark Dobbs ruling, Massachusetts lawmakers updated state law to broaden abortion access.

Then-Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed that bill into law, shielding providers who perform the procedure in Massachusetts from being prosecuted by other states.

In 2023, under Governor Maura Healey, Massachusetts also took the unusual step of creating a stockpile of 15,000 doses of mifepristone, or medication abortion.

House lawmakers are pushing the new legislation ahead of a self-imposed July 31 deadline, by which bills need to pass in each chamber and enter negotiations between chamber leaders to remain alive before the end of the two-year legislative session on Jan. 5.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka said she “looks forward to reviewing” the legislation.

Barber herself is in the midst of a competitive race, vying with four other Democrats for an open Senate seat currently held by the retiring Pat Jehlen.

Asked if her contested race for state Senate played a role in the House moving the bill — and, in effect, giving her a legislative victory to tout on the campaign trail — Barber demurred.

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“The win belongs to everyone,” she said.