Groups are calling on Massachusetts to pass legislation protecting patients and providers from other states' restrictive abortion laws in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Politico obtained and released a draft majority opinion this week indicating five of the nine high-court justices would vote to overturn the landmark decision affirming the right to an abortion.
Margaret Batten, board member of the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund, said it is important for people in Massachusetts to understand abortion is still legal, and will be in the Commonwealth even if the draft opinion becomes official.
"People in Massachusetts should understand that others in increasingly nearby states will not be as fortunate," Batten pointed out. "There will be a need for people to support those seeking abortion care and having to travel to get it."
Nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, according to a Marquette Law School poll. Just under 30% support overturning the decision. Pro-choice advocates and lawmakers rallied at the State House this week to make their opposition to the draft opinion clear.
Dozens of states have so-called "trigger laws" on the books to ban or restrict abortion immediately if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Batten hopes Massachusetts will step up and allocate state dollars for abortion funds, to help both Commonwealth residents and out-of-state people seeking abortions afford and access the care they need.
"I think there's a lot that we can do to reduce the stigma around abortion care," Batten asserted. "Abortion is an incredibly common medical procedure. Estimates are that one in four women in the United States will have an abortion in their lifetime."
Batten added there are various approaches states guaranteeing the right to abortions can take to support those in more restrictive states.
For instance, Connecticut this week passed a law protecting patients and providers from other states, and New York is eyeing similar legislation. And California lawmakers are working on a bill to make the state a "sanctuary" for abortions and those who seek them.
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The Alabama House and Senate both passed bills this week that would help people resume in vitro fertilization and provide legal protections for providers and patients in certain cases.
Senate Bill 159 and its companion House Bill 237 passed swiftly despite debates surrounding immunity and personhood.
While this is a positive step that allows families to resume treatments, said Heidi Miller, development manager for the reproductive-justice group Yellowhammer Fund, they're still concerned with the limited timeframe offered by the bills, including the one sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence.
"So, it just feels like a very limited solution to me, and that's our stance as an org, is that it feels like very much like a Band-Aid on open wounds," she said. "And so, that's how we've kind of been looking at those bills, because Sen. Melson's bill similarly would be repealed on April 1, 2025."
Both bills would apply retroactively and be automatically repealed next year, which Miller said could affect families again. This comes after IVF programs around the state stopped offering the service over concerns about legal consequences following a 8-1 state Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled that frozen embryos are protected by the state's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act that protects children, regardless of location.
Acknowledging the temporary nature of the bills, Miller argued that a short-term solution is insufficient for people seeking IVF treatments, which sometimes can take months or years. She said they're urging lawmakers to take further action to safeguard the accessibility of IVF.
"For us to get the constitutional amendment - the, quote, 'sanctity of life' constitutional amendment from 2018 - back for a re-vote in front of Alabama voters," she said, "because that would be the long-term solution that would really protect IVF access."
Unless the constitutional amendment is repealed, she said, it could supersede any other law or code, specifically where the term 'child' or 'minor child' is not defined. Miller said the Yellowhammer Fund has resources on its website for people who want to know more.
House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, is sponsoring two measures, including a constitutional amendment, to clarify that an extrauterine embryo should not be considered an "unborn life" or "unborn child."
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Legislation in Massachusetts would ban some of the tactics used by "crisis pregnancy centers" to prevent people from having abortions.
Many of the centers have the words "medical" or "health" in their names, but do not offer licensed reproductive medical care.
Laurie Veninger, reproductive rights activist for the Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition, said the centers advertise "free" tests and ultrasounds and then pressure women into continuing their pregnancies.
"If they were a business, that would be curtailed by existing laws about deceptive advertising," Veninger pointed out. "But these places are religious nonprofits."
Veninger explained the crisis centers are often located near abortion providers, where anti-abortion activists try to lure people their way. Abortion opponents contend the centers simply offer confidential services to those facing unplanned pregnancies.
Following complaints, the Department of Public Health recently sent a memo to nearly 30 crisis pregnancy centers regarding state laws and patients' rights.
Veninger argued Massachusetts is "in the crosshairs" of what she calls "religious extremists," targeting states where abortion remains legal. She asserted many low-income people are being deceived, with potentially dangerous outcomes.
"Some of them have told us that they called up and made an appointment, because they thought they were going there for an abortion," Veninger observed. "And then when they got there, didn't get one, and then, they had to wait another week to get the appointment at the real clinic."
Veninger emphasized the extra week can mean the difference between having a medication abortion or requiring a surgical procedure. A class-action lawsuit claims a nurse at the Clearway Clinic in Worcester County failed to inform a patient her ultrasound showed an ectopic pregnancy, nearly costing the patient her life.
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Florida voters will soon have the opportunity to express their views on abortion rights at the ballot box.
After Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a law last year restricting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the committee Floridians Protecting Freedom launched a petition drive for what it calls a constitutional "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion."
Sarah Parker, president of Women's Voices of Southwest Florida, part of a coalition supporting the petition, said they were excited to receive notice Friday from the Florida Department of State confirming they have successfully secured the necessary number of valid signatures.
"Right now we are just elated to actually have a number," Parker noted. "It sounds good too: 'Vote Yes on 4 in 2024.' We've got over 900,000 petitions and we're looking forward to the next steps, which is a standard process of going to the Supreme Court, and we're confident."
The Florida Supreme Court will now weigh in on the acceptability of the wording of the amendment. Attorney General Ashley Moody and other opponents have already delivered objections. In October, Moody expressed concerns the language could be an attempt to "hoodwink" voters, arguing the term "viability" has multiple interpretations.
Confusion on the matter is likely to persist, given the actions of the Republican-controlled Legislature, which not only approved additional abortion restrictions, but also has more pending restrictions yet to take effect. The implementation of a six-week limit hinges on the outcome of an ongoing legal battle about a 15-week abortion limit passed in 2022. The resolution of the 15-week case is also pending at the Florida Supreme Court.
Parker hopes voters will have the final say.
"It would mean to stop government interference with an abortion and health care," Parker explained. "What we're doing is kind of taking it back to the times before Dobbs got overturned, before Roe got overturned."
Part of the amendment language states, "No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider."
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