Governor Maura Healey Implements Abortions Up to Birth in Massachusetts
It’s now legal to kill babies up to birth in Massachusetts.
Gov. Maura Healey on Friday used an emergency preamble to put into effect a law that permits abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy based solely on an abortionist wanting to sell an abortion that kills a baby up to birth.
Her decision overrides a citizen petition that gathered more than 113,000 signatures to suspend and potentially repeal the measure.
The filing came just two days before Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2026 was scheduled to take effect on Nov. 8.
By declaring the law an emergency, Healey blocks the referendum signatures from suspending it while the repeal process moves forward.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life and its partners in the Compassionate Care Coalition had collected the signatures—nearly double the number needed to halt the law pending a 2028 ballot question—and had urged the governor not to intervene.
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Under the prior statute, abortions at or after 24 weeks were supposedly restricted to rare cases – though the law could be flouted to essentially allow abortions up to birth. The law Healey signed makes abortions up to birth official.
The new law replaces those limits with language stating that “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.” Pro-life advocates have described the change as removing basic protections for viable unborn children and allowing abortions through all nine months of pregnancy.
“Governor Healey’s preamble reflects an utter disregard for the men and women she was elected to represent,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life in an email to LifeNews.com.
“In a matter of a few weeks, more than 113,000 of her constituents went out of their way to oppose a highly controversial, deeply consequential, law that blindsided legislators and voters alike. Healey ignored their questions and concerns on August 10, and she has once again prevented any dialogue. She has not sufficiently explained the ‘emergency’ that warrants her undemocratic rejection of the people’s will, because such an emergency does not exist, only weakness on her part. Healey clearly demonstrates today how beholden she really is to the Massachusetts abortion lobby.”
Sam Miele, chairman of the Compassionate Care Coalition and director of Massachusetts Family Action, said the people of Massachusetts “did not ask for abortion through all nine months, and in a matter of weeks they made that clear.”
Michael King, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, stated that “Chapter 188 strips away the most basic protections for the most vulnerable among us.”
The referendum effort continues. Massachusetts Citizens for Life and coalition partners are preparing a two-year public education campaign leading to the November 2028 ballot, when voters will decide whether to repeal the law.
