Even nine Democratic lawmakers could not get on board with a “barbaric” new Massachusetts law signed this week that essentially would allow an infant to be terminated moments before birth.
The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act passed 119-33 in the state House of Representatives on July 22, and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, removes all gestational limits on abortion in the state.
The bill allows physicians “to perform the procedure later in pregnancy based on their professional medical judgment and grants greater protection from legal penalties.,” Fox News Digital reported Friday.
The group of nine Democrats voted against the legislation alongside a solid block of Republican lawmakers.
Several of the opposing Democratic legislators this week cited “ethical and legal concerns” and said the bill was out of step with their constituents’ views, the news outlet reported.
“This new law represents an extremist and dangerous position,” Democratic State Rep. Jeffrey Turco of Winthrop told Fox News Digital. “To be clear, it allows abortion any time, unrestricted, and in many cases, publicly funded until the moment of birth.”
Turco said the bill was “rushed through the legislative process in two weeks without an opportunity for the public to weigh in,” and was “out of step with the views of the average person in Massachusetts.”
“The new law is barbaric,” he added.
Other Democrats were equally vocal in their opposition.
State Rep. Chris Markey of Dartmouth told Fox Digital the bill creates a troubling precedent, saying:
I am deeply disappointed in the passage of this bill. This bill creates a very slippery slope. I believe this law puts doctors in a very difficult ethical dilemma, as well as conflicts with long-standing criminal case law. This law, I believe, is not consistent with the beliefs of the vast majority of my constituents. While many are pro-choice, you can still be pro-choice and see this law as going beyond the norms of acceptability.
State Rep. Dennis Gallagher, a Democrat representing the 8th Plymouth District, told the cable outlet that changes to the existing law were not necessary. He said prior state law already permitted abortions after 24 weeks to preserve the health of the mother or in cases of “severe fetal anomalies.”
He contended that greater emphasis was needed on alternatives such as adoption.
“At that point in a pregnancy, if the health of the mother is fine and the baby’s health is fine, I just think alternatives should be encouraged for that baby,” he told Fox News Digital. “So that’s what I struggled with. But it should always be between a woman and their doctor.”
State Rep. Alan Silvia, a pro-life Democrat from Bristol, vehemently opposed expanding abortion in the state.
“My position has been consistent: I believe in protecting human life, including the life of the unborn,” he said. “We go to extraordinary lengths as a society to protect vulnerable life, saving whales and saving strays, yet when it comes to an unborn child, that same sense of protection too often seems to disappear.”
Governor Healey defended signing the legislation into law this week, citing “unprecedented attacks across the country” on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade.
She said in a statement early in the week that this law will guarantee families won’t have to “travel hundreds of miles” to get abortions out of state and “patients can continue to receive compassionate, medically appropriate care in Massachusetts during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.”
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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