Democrat Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill on Monday that legalizes abortions in the state throughout the duration of pregnancy.
The bill, called “An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care” or H.5595, ultimately allows unborn babies to be aborted throughout pregnancy and strikes down the state’s current 24-week limit, which had exceptions for the life of the mother and a deadly fetal diagnosis. Under the bill, doctors have the discretion to decide whether or not to perform a late-term abortion.
“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, according to a WCVB report.
“I promise that no matter what Donald Trump or Republicans in Congress or the Supreme Court does, we’re going to continue to make sure that women and families have access to the health care that they need right here in Massachusetts,” Healey said during the signing ceremony.
Massachusetts joins Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, and Washington, DC, in allowing unborn babies to be aborted throughout the entire pregnancy.
The bill passed the Democrat-dominated state House and Senate last month.
“It’s a very sad day in the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Republican state Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida said at the time. “The precedent that we’re setting is that a mother can get an abortion up until the moment of birth for a healthy, viable baby.”
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser mourned the news of the governor’s signature on the radical bill.
“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,” Dannenfelser said in a statement. “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. Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy. We must do all we can to turn the page on America’s ugly chapter of late-term abortion.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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