This week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed legislation that legalizes abortion in the Bay State until birth.
As a matter of public policy, there are effectively no restrictions on abortion whatsoever. An abortion can be performed at any time in pregnancy as long as the women consents. A number of pro-life and conservative pundits were rightly disgusted by the largely sympathetic media coverage of this bill and the throng of cheering women surrounding Governor Healey as she signed this barbaric piece of legislation into law.
Not surprisingly, abortion policy in Massachusetts was already permissive before Governor Healey signed this bill. The ROE Act, which was enacted in 2020, explicitly legalized abortion in Massachusetts during the first two trimesters. The ROE Act also contained broad exemptions for both physical and mental health during the third trimester. Further liberalization of abortion policy in Massachusetts is simply gratuitous.
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However, receiving far less attention is that abortion policy is becoming more permissive in other politically liberal states as well. Indeed, many blue states have taken action to repeal existing pro-life laws or pass new laws expanding abortion access.
Indeed, during the 1990s and early 2000s, most blue state Democrats were inclined to let the status quo prevail regarding abortion policy in their respective states. However, that has certainly changed in recent years. The Massachusetts ROE Act weakened the state parental consent law. Now 16- and 17-year-old girls can obtain abortions in Massachusetts without parental consent. In 2021 Illinois repealed its parental involvement law altogether. In 2020 Virginia repealed its informed consent and waiting period. Finally, during the past ten years, seven state Medicaid programs have started to cover elective abortion.
Some of this is unsurprising. An older generation of more socially conservative Democrats has largely passed away. They have been replaced by a young generation of Democrats that is both more secular and more liberal on social issues. Pro-lifers have understandably devoting a great deal of attention to stopping telehealth abortions in recent years. However, crafting effective strategies to protect existing pro-life laws in blue states should be an important priority for the pro-life movement.
LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Michael New is a professor at Ave Maria University. He is a former political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a fellow at Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.
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