Massachusetts Senate Votes for Measure to Legalize Abortions Up to Birth

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Dec 18, 2020   |   6:29PM   |   Boston, Massachusetts

Massachusetts lawmakers are fast-tracking a radical pro-abortion bill that would legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions for basically any reason up to birth in their state.

On Friday afternoon, the state Senate joined the House in rejecting Gov. Charlie Baker’s amendments to the bill — changes that would have limited late-term abortions and required parental consent before underage girls get abortions, State House News Service reports.

The Boston Globe reports eight senators supported the governor’s changes while 32 did not. It appears likely that the radical pro-abortion bill, tacked onto the state budget as an amendment, will become law; it passed both chambers by a veto-proof majority, according to the report.

Four Republican and four Democrat senators voted against the pro-abortion bill: Nick Collins and Michael Rush of Boston, Walter F. Timilty of Milton, and John C. Velis of Westfield, the report noted.

Pro-lifers urged Baker, a pro-abortion Republican, to veto the entire amendment, which would allow unborn babies to be aborted for basically any reason up to birth, end parental consent for young girls seeking abortions, weaken the state anti-infanticide law, and allow non-doctors to abort unborn babies.

While Baker did not veto the entire measure, he did remove the section allowing underage girls to get abortions without their parents’ knowledge or consent. He also limited the expansion of late-term abortions to fatal fetal anomalies and tightened “the language for when an abortion could be performed to protect the mental health of the mother,” according to State House News.

It was those changes that lawmakers rejected this week in favor of the more radical pro-abortion measures.

Polls consistently show that most Americans oppose late-term abortions and support parental consent for minors, but abortion advocacy groups insisted that Baker’s changes would “undermined lawmakers’ efforts to protect and expand abortion access,” WBUR News reports.

The Massachusetts House also rejected an amendment Wednesday that would have required doctors to provide basic, life-saving medical care to babies who survive abortions, according to the Herald. State Rep. Claire Cronin, who sponsored the pro-abortion legislation, argued that protections for abortion survivors would “stigmatize” women seeking abortions, according to WBUR.

Democrats and Republicans have been speaking out against the pro-abortion bill.

“We urge the legislature to end this fixation on making abortion more common and less safe,” said Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America. “Massachusetts should step back to look at the real inequality for women. It is not about abortion access. It is about a choice to parent or carry the child to term. There is a real inequity in the lack of support and resources to choose alternatives to abortion, particularly for low-income and minority communities.”

Day thanked the Democrat lawmakers who voted for protections for unborn babies, but she expressed concern that two lawmakers, state Reps. Bruce Ayers and Thomas Golden, broke their pro-life promises and voted no.

“We strongly urge Republican Governor Charlie Baker to veto this horrific legislation,” Day said.

The Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Massachusetts Family Institute and other leading pro-life groups also have been making huge efforts to stop the anti-life legislation from becoming law. Massachusetts Catholic leaders also criticized the anti-life legislation.

Earlier this month, more than 400 pastors across the state wrote a letter to Baker slamming the bill as a “shocking and callous disregard for human life and the importance of parental involvement in the lives of children.”

Polls consistently show that Americans oppose late-term abortions and support parental consent for minors. A recent poll by Susan B. Anthony List found strong opposition to the Massachusetts legislation. According to the poll, 62 percent of Massachusetts voters oppose late-term abortions, including 49 percent of Democrat and 66 percent of independent voters. The same number, 62 percent, also supports the current state law requiring parental consent before a girl under 18 has an abortion.

Similar legislation passed in New York, Illinois, Vermont and Rhode Island last year, prompting massive outrage. Another pro-abortion bill narrowly failed in New Mexico because of strong public opposition.

Action: Call Gov. Charlie Baker at (617) 725-4005. Contact Massachusetts lawmakers.