Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy in the state of Massachusetts, making it the 11th state to impose no limits on abortion.
The legislation signed Aug. 10 removes all of the state's restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon "the professional judgment of the physician" performing it, under the law.
"It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year. Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey's approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
The state Senate sent the legislation to Healey's desk on July 31 for her signature.
Under the previous statute, state law allowed abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy if a physician says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman, because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis, or because the fetus wouldn't likely survive outside the uterus.
"Today, mothers and fathers and families who experience these devastating diagnoses — and they are devastating, heartbreaking — now they'll be able to make their own choices," Healey said at a press conference on Aug. 10.
Healey and supporters of the measure said the change in the law was needed because Massachusetts hospitals were increasingly refusing to provide abortions for women who already qualified for post-24-week abortions under existing law and that doctors needed clearer authority to reaffirm that medical judgment governs late-term abortion decisions.
Healey, who is an outspoken supporter of abortion access, has served as the state's governor since 2023.
Responding to the enacted legislation, Dannenfelser urged that the GOP "must abandon the 'leave it to the states' position — a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one — and advance national protections for unborn children."
SBA Pro-Life America highlighted that abortions done during the second and third trimesters are generally done by dismemberment of the baby or labor, noting that inducing labor may result in a live birth.
"Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy," Dannenfelser said.
According to a 2024 study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, 46 of 50 countries in Europe limit abortion after 15 weeks –– a point by which the baby feels pain. The institute also found that over 60,000 abortions occur after 15 weeks each year.
"We must do all we can to turn the page on America's ugly chapter of late-term abortion," Dannenfelser said.
