Lawmakers vow to debate on long-stalled bill that would affirm abortion rights in Massachusetts
State lawmakers — acting with a new sense of urgency — signaled their intention take up legislation related to abortion and reproductive health — rights they said are “under threat” at the national level.
“We are very concerned that Massachusetts’ women’s reproductive rights are under threat at the national level. We are therefore committed to debate measures in the House and Senate this session that would remove barriers to women’s reproductive health options and protect the concepts enshrined in Roe v. Wade,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka said in a joint statement Monday night.
The bill — the ROE Act — would enshrine the right to abortion in state law as well as lift restrictions requiring parental or judicial consent for people under than 18 and allow abortions after 24 weeks in some circumstances.
It would also require insurance coverage of abortions for state residents who are not eligible for MassHealth. The bill has been stalled in the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary since 2019, but activists have renewed calls for its passage following the confirmation of US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett.
“Massachusetts lawmakers have the responsibility to make sure our state is a place where everyone is able to receive the abortion care they need—without judgment, medically unnecessary barriers, or political interference. The legislature cannot wait any longer to pass the ROE Act,” the ROE Act Coalition — which includes the ACLU of Massachusetts, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, and Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts — said last month.
The announcement by state House and Senate leaders comes one week to the day Barrett — Trump’s third appointee to the high court — was confirmed, cementing a 6-3 conservative majority and fanning activists’ fear that the landmark abortion rights ruling Roe v. Wade could be overturned.
The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision established the federal right to abortion, rendering a state ban that existed at the time moot. The Legislature, however, wouldn’t formally rescind the ban until 2018. While the state’s Supreme Judicial Court has ruled abortion is protected under the state Constitution, but activists have called on lawmakers to affirm that right under increasing pressure by conservatives to limit it.
In order to pass this legislative session, lawmakers must vote on the ROE Act by Dec. 31. Both the House and Senate versions have been cosponsored by a majority of members in each branch.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3jV5yJ0
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