Pro-life activists in Massachusetts have gathered almost 100,000 signatures to suspend and eventually repeal the state’s radical new pro-abortion law, far more than the minimum necessary.
In August, Democrat Gov. Maura Healey signed into law H. 5595, which gutted the previous, modest limits that abortion could only be performed past 24 weeks if “necessary to preserve the life of the patient”; “necessary to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health”; “warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis”; or “warranted because of a grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions.”
Under the new law, an “abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.” Furthermore, “No medical review process shall override the professional judgment of a treating physician [i.e., abortionist] and a patient or the patient’s health care proxy to provide an abortion consistent with” the new section, effectively empowering abortionists to label any abortion up to birth as “medically necessary.”
In response, Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Action joined forces to form the Compassionate Care Coalition, which filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office to get repeal of H. 5595 on the ballot in the 2028 election cycle. Now, the group has announced they have collected 99,962 signatures, well beyond the 37,000 necessary to get the question on the 2028 ballot, plus the additional 12,430 needed to suspend the law until then, but whether the latter will happen remains to be seen.
