STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS can get to work crafting a final reproductive rights bill following the Senate’s unanimous vote Wednesday, and distance between the branches on an approach to late-term abortions looms as a speedbump with the window for action closing. In the latest state-level volley prompted by a US Supreme Court decision […]
abortion
Posted inOpinion
“We cannot lose our hard-fought equality”
SINCE 1973, access to abortion care has been a constitutional right in America. This past week, the Supreme Court took that right away, the first time ever that the Court has removed a right from the majority of the population. Although the leaked draft warned us, it is still a shock to lose our rights […]
Posted inHealth Care
House passes abortion provider protections as advocates clamor for more
THE MASSACHUSETTS House on Wednesday passed a bill protecting Massachusetts abortion providers from adverse consequences by other states and requiring insurers to cover abortion care. Yet even with the Legislature’s swift action, health care advocates and Massachusetts’ US senators continued to push for additional steps to respond to the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe […]
Posted inUncategorized
Baker signs abortion executive order
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday signed an executive order protecting Massachusetts abortion providers from prosecution by other states that have made providing an abortion a criminal act. The order prohibits executive agencies from assisting another state’s investigation into anyone receiving or providing an abortion. It also bars abortion providers from losing their license or being […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Roe overturned: What you need to know
This article is reprinted with permission of The Conversation, which compiles contents on a variety of subjects and makes it available to media organizations. logo-horizontal-en-6374a439416242a04d05435431638ec5 THE SUPREME COURT decided by a 6-3 majority to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In doing so, the justices overturned two key decisions protecting access […]
Posted inOpinion
Make Mass. a leader in reproductive freedom
FORTY-NINE YEARS ago today, the United States Supreme Court issued its historic ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade, confirming that access to abortion is a right guaranteed by the US Constitution. But in the past few months, we’ve seen profoundly troubling signs that indicate the court’s conservative majority is finally ready—and willing—to overturn […]
Posted inPolitics
House overrides Baker’s abortion veto
THE HOUSE ON MONDAY voted 107-46 to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of legislation allowing women as young as 16 to obtain abortions without parental or judicial consent and expanding when pregnancies can be terminated after six months. The Senate on Tuesday is expected to join the House in overriding the governor’s veto, giving the […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker vetoes abortion bill
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER vetoed the Legislature’s abortion bill on Thursday, forcing lawmakers to override his veto if they want to insist on lowering from 18 to 16 the age at which a woman can obtain an abortion without the approval of a parent or judge. Baker previously offered an amendment to the Legislature’s abortion proposal […]
Posted inHealth Care
Lawmakers send police reform, abortion measures to governor
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE sent bills dealing with police reform and abortion back to Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday and began work on compromise health care legislation that requires insurers to permanently reimburse for behavioral telehealth at the rates they’d pay for the same care in-person. The House joined the Senate in passing […]
Posted inOpinion
Parental or judicial consent doesn’t work for everyone
FOR YEARS I was too ashamed of the abortion I had at sixteen to tell anyone. I had to cross state lines, driving from Massachusetts to Connecticut, to get abortion care because the law in Massachusetts required that I get parental consent. Getting parental consent was not an option for me. I’d never met my […]