Massachusetts Gov Healey Receives Proposed Amendment to Radical Late-Term Abortion Bill

Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn on Tuesday delivered a proposed amendment to Governor Maura Healey’s office, urging the governor to return the recently approved abortion expansion bill with changes that preserve protections for women and viable unborn children. Flynn was joined by Jean Marie Davis, Executive Director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center, who shared concerns about the bill’s impact on vulnerable women, including victims of human trafficking, coercion, and sexual violence.

The proposal comes as Governor Healey considers An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care, legislation approved by the Massachusetts Legislature last week that would remove the Commonwealth’s current 24-week abortion limit and permit abortions later in pregnancy based on a physician’s “professional judgment.” The governor may sign the bill, veto it, or return it to the Legislature with recommended amendments.

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The amendment submitted by Massachusetts Citizens for Life would preserve physician discretion while restoring safeguards for late-term abortions. Among its provisions are a definition of fetal viability, independent written certification by a second physician before post-viability abortions except in medical emergencies, expanded informed consent that includes information about perinatal hospice and palliative care for families facing a lethal or grave fetal diagnosis, counseling and emotional support resources for women considering late-term abortion, and publicly available educational materials maintained by the Department of Public Health.

“I stopped by Governor Maura Healey’s office with a proposed amendment to the abortion-up-to-birth bill, a bill permitting abortionists to act on healthy moms and healthy unborn babies capable of feeling pain and surviving outside the womb,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. “I respectfully urge the governor to lead the Commonwealth in hope, not down a path shrouded in darkness.”

Joining Flynn at the Governor’s office was Jean Marie Davis, Executive Director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center, which serves women and families in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Brattleboro, Vermont. Davis, a survivor of coerced abortion and the mother of two children conceived through rape, said she urged the governor’s staff to consider women facing coercion, exploitation, and abuse, as well as the impact of the legislation on the Black community.

“I explained to the governor’s staff how this bill will be more dangerous to the Black community and to women who are being sex trafficked,” Davis said. “The Black community already represents only about 13.5 to 15 percent of the population in America. If this bill passes, they are saying that Black lives in the next generation do not matter. We need to give women all of the options, not just one option, which is abortion, because for women who are being trafficked, abortion can become a forced situation. I also shared that both of my children were conceived through rape and asked the governor to consider the Black community and save unborn children from abortion.”

Flynn said Governor Healey now has an opportunity to address concerns that were not reflected in the Legislature’s final version of the bill by returning it with amendments that restore protections for women and viable unborn children.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life continues to encourage Massachusetts residents to contact Governor Healey and urge her to return the legislation with the proposed amendments.