Massachusetts has enacted a sweeping expansion of abortion law that removes the specific medical conditions previously required for abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, drawing sharp criticism from pro-life advocates who warn that the measure abandons meaningful legal protection for unborn children late in pregnancy.
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act into law on Monday. The legislation changes the standard governing abortions after 24 weeks, placing the decision in the professional judgment of the physician rather than limiting such abortions to circumstances specifically defined by state law.
According to the Massachusetts Legislature, previous law permitted abortion after 24 weeks when a physician determined it was necessary to preserve the life or physical or mental health of the mother, or when there was a lethal or grave fetal diagnosis involving the child’s ability to survive outside the womb.
The new law removes those enumerated conditions. The legislative text instead states that “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.” It further provides that “no medical review process shall override the professional judgment” of the treating physician and patient or the patient’s health care proxy.
The change represents a profound moral concern for Catholics, who hold that every human life possesses inherent dignity from conception until natural death. The Church teaches that direct abortion is gravely contrary to the moral law and that the unborn child must be recognized and protected as a human person.
Healey defended the legislation as necessary for women and families who encounter devastating circumstances late in pregnancy.
“I’ve heard heartbreaking stories from women and families who were preparing to welcome a healthy baby into their family, only to receive devastating news later in their pregnancy,” Healey said, according to a statement from her office cited by LifeSiteNews.
“That should never happen in Massachusetts,” Healey continued. “This law continues our efforts to have the strongest abortion protections in the country because in Massachusetts, we believe health care decisions should be made between women and their doctors.”
Healey has also pledged that abortion will remain available in Massachusetts under her administration. “Abortion will remain safe. It will remain legal, and it will remain accessible here in Massachusetts. That’s my commitment to you,” she said at the signing, according to reporting on the event.
For Catholics and other defenders of unborn life, however, the central issue is not simply who makes a medical decision, but whether the law recognizes that an unborn child is a human life deserving protection.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life strongly opposed the legislation. Before its enactment, the organization warned that H.5595 would remove the state’s existing 24-week restrictions and allow physicians substantially greater discretion over abortions later in pregnancy.
Following the signing, Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn condemned the law in especially forceful terms.
“Legalizing elective abortion up to birth on healthy mothers and healthy, pain-capable unborn children is not about protecting the doctor-patient relationship,” Flynn said, according to Massachusetts Citizens for Life as quoted by LifeSiteNews. “It is about abortionists normalizing the deaths of fully-developed infants and pressuring vulnerable women to permit their unborn children to die in heinous acts of violence.”
The legislation’s language itself illustrates why pro-life advocates are sounding the alarm. Rather than replacing the previous requirements with a new list of medical emergencies or fetal conditions, lawmakers replaced them with the broader standard of a physician’s “professional judgment.”
The debate also comes amid a significant expansion of abortion in Massachusetts. According to data reported by Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the state recorded 49,450 abortions in 2024, compared with 24,355 in 2023. The organization reported that 99 abortions occurred at 24 weeks or later that year.
Supporters of the new law argue that restrictions can create serious obstacles for families confronting catastrophic diagnoses late in wanted pregnancies. Opponents contend that difficult medical cases do not justify eliminating objective legal protections for viable unborn children, particularly when the new statutory language does not expressly restrict post-24-week abortions to those circumstances.
For the Catholic faithful, the expansion presents a grave challenge to the culture of life. Compassion for mothers facing frightening diagnoses, medical emergencies or unexpected pregnancies must never be separated from compassion for their unborn children. Both mother and child possess an inviolable human dignity that deserves care, support and protection.
The Catholic response must therefore extend beyond political opposition. Women and families confronting difficult pregnancies need genuine assistance, compassionate medical care, material support and communities willing to accompany them through fear and uncertainty.
No child’s worth depends upon health, disability, stage of development or whether his or her life is considered convenient. The answer to suffering cannot be the deliberate destruction of another human life.
Massachusetts has chosen to give physicians broader authority over abortion after 24 weeks. Catholics must continue to proclaim a different principle: the smallest and most defenseless members of the human family are not problems to be eliminated, but persons whose lives are worthy of love and protection.
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