By Katie Castellani
Gov. Maura Healey signed an emergency preamble Friday to force a law removing barriers to abortions later in pregnancy to take effect immediately, a move that blocks efforts to suspend the statute while its opponents move a repeal question toward the 2028 ballot.
The emergency preamble, filed with the Secretary of State William Galvin’s office on Friday afternoon, prevents the law from any suspension attempts over the next two years, a spokesperson for the governor’s office confirmed. The law was set to take effect on Sunday, Nov. 9, according to the House clerk’s office.
Healey wrote that “any further delay in implementing the Act would prolong uncertainty for patients, families, physicians and health care institutions, and risk further harm to the health and safety of women in Massachusetts.”
Galvin’s office is processing petitions from a group seeking to put a repeal referendum before voters in 2028.
Sam Miele, chair of the Compassionate Care Coalition – led by the Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Action, said the group dropped off 113,477 signatures certified by local clerks with Galvin’s office on Friday. That surpasses the 37,289 signatures needed to make the 2028 ballot and 49,719 signatures to suspend the law in the interim.
The law, which is based on bills that raced through the Legislature before the end of scheduled formal sessions in July, removes four criteria from the statute that allowed abortions at or beyond 24 weeks in life-threatening situations for the patient or fetus. Instead, the law defers to providers’ medical judgement for whether to perform an abortion.
“Since the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act was signed into law in August, at least nine Massachusetts patients facing devastating pregnancy complications have been denied compassionate abortion care here in the Commonwealth while waiting for the law to take effect. Today, Governor Healey took decisive action to address this public health emergency, removing unnecessary delays and ensuring patients can access the care they need when they need it,” said Kathleen Melendy, Reproductive Equity Now’s Massachusetts State Director.
Said Miele: “The prior abortion law in Massachusetts allowed abortions after 24 weeks if the mother’s life was in danger. The only thing this new law does is allow babies who pose no threat to the life of the mother to be killed at will in the womb at nine months. Governor Healey, you must explain to the voters why that is an emergency.”
Dr. Rebecca Brendel, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, applauded the governor’s decision.
“The MMS remains firmly committed to protecting clinical autonomy and access to comprehensive, equitable reproductive health care,” Brendel said in a statement. “Physicians bear the responsibility to make complex, individualized clinical treatment recommendations based on scientific evidence, established standards of care, and circumstances unique to our patients. Decisions regarding abortion care later in pregnancy should be no different.”
