A Post-Roe Legislature Sees Opportunity for New Reproductive Healthcare Laws
The beginning of this year’s legislative cycle marks the first time in 50 years that the Massachusetts’ legislature has operated without Roe v. Wade. Even though the Supreme Court recently overturned this decision, abortion is currently legal and strongly protected in Massachusetts. However, this year’s dockets are important, as they offer a glimpse into how the state legislature will handle access to abortion now that the federal government no longer recognizes abortion as a Constitutional right.
Since Roe was overturned in June, the only bill involving abortion that we have seen passed by the Mass. legislature in 2022 was An Act Expanding Protections for Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care (HB5090). This bill was extensive, covering many aspects of both reproductive care, specifically abortions, as well as gender-affirming care, following concerns about LGBTQ+ rights being revoked in light of the Roe v Wade reversal. Highlighted in this bill is protection for both those administering reproductive healthcare and those receiving it. Additionally, the passage of this bill required universities to develop abortion readiness plans as well as establishing a fund available for public universities’ use for their abortion readiness.
This legislative cycle, the General Court has the opportunity to reiterate their commitment to abortion access for Massachusetts residents. The filing of 23 abortion-related dockets, many of them refiled, may be signaling just how important abortion issues are to this legislature.
In line with the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care bill signed into law during the previous legislative session, several of the dockets introduced this session surround increasing access to abortion. The aptly named Act Enhancing Access to Abortion Care (HD3434/SD1854) raises the conditions necessary for increased and safer access to abortions. This includes multilingual consent forms, secure confidentiality, and lessened wait times. In the same vein, An Act to Provide Reproductive Health Care to Incarcerated Individuals (HD2760) aims to better the unequal healthcare conditions for incarcerated individuals. This bill encompasses more than simply abortion rights as it includes better access to birth control methods and emergency contraception, free of charge and without unnecessary barriers. Abortions would be accessible in line with existing state and federal law, without additional restrictions imposed by the correctional facility. Advocates have been concerned not only with the legality of abortion in recent years, but with equitable and easy access, aims reflected in the several bills proposed this cycle.
Opposite the bills increasing access to abortion, we have also seen the filing of bills that impose conditions and restrictions. An Act Protecting the Health of the Mother and a Born Alive Fetus After the Second Trimester (HD1840) is a key example of this. This bill restricts abortions past the second trimester, making it illegal for a medical professional to even attempt one unless specific conditions are met, namely the death of the pregnant person should the pregnancy continue. However, this bill states that this restriction is done with the goal of preventing maternal death as well as miscarriages.
An Act Relative to Down Syndrome (HD4066/HD1393) is another example of potential conditions to abortion access that the legislature could pass this cycle. The passage of this bill would make it unlawful for any person to purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion on a pregnant woman if the individual is aware that the woman is seeking an abortion due to their belief that their unborn baby has Down Syndrome. This bill also establishes the basis for criminal prosecution and a revocation of medical license for anyone who breaks this law. However, the bill also clarifies that the pregnant woman would not be guilty.
Several other bills introduced were more indirectly related to reproductive care and abortions. Two bills introduced this session (HD2765/HD2063) were specifically concerned with violence towards an unborn child. Both bills aim to criminalize harming an unborn child (with or without the knowledge of a pregnancy) as a separate criminal offense to harm done to the pregnant person. These bills clearly state this offense to be distinct from legal abortions and other medical care.
Along with the aforementioned bills that don’t directly address reproductive healthcare, several bills were filed involving sex education in Massachusetts schools. An Act Relative to Securing Parental Consent for Human Sexuality Education (HD4061/HD4058/HD4055/HD3000), requires written parental consent for their child to attend sex education presentations. This bill requires schools to provide a 21 day notice prior to the presentations as well as listing specific topics to be addressed and any agencies to which a student may be referred for reproductive health issues.
A similar bill, An Act Relative to Healthy Youth (SD2199/HD3874), requires school districts to file an annual report with the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) regarding their sex education policy. This bill also requires this report to be made public. Beyond this report, the bill also establishes a set list of topics that need to be addressed during sex education.
With a wide array of bills involving many aspects of abortion and reproductive healthcare, it will be very interesting to see how the legislature handles these topics. Keeping track of all of these bills may seem very difficult. InstaTrac makes this easy with refile comparisons, bill summaries, and daily action alerts. Never miss a blog post - and stay on top of what’s happening on Beacon Hill! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin, or Instagram.