Massachusetts removes gestational limits on abortion, becoming 10th state to do so

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act on August 10, 2026, making Massachusetts the 10th state to eliminate gestational limits on abortion. Supported by major medical groups and patient advocates like Kate Dineen, the law allows abortions after 24 weeks based on a physician's professional judgment. Opponents, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, strongly condemned the measure as an extreme policy that permits abortion up to birth.

Massachusetts abortion law change

• ▪The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act allows abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy based on the professional judgment of the physician, replacing a framework that restricted late-term abortions to specific exceptions.
• ▪The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act is scheduled to take effect 90 days after its signing on August 10, 2026.
• ▪Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act on August 10, 2026, which removes the state's gestational limits on abortion.
• ▪Massachusetts became the 10th state, alongside Washington, D.C., to eliminate gestational age limits on abortion, joining Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.

Governor Healey electoral framing

• ▪Republican primary candidate Michael Minogue expressed disappointment with Governor Maura Healey's signing of the bill, stating that abortion is an issue best decided by voters rather than politicians.
• ▪Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve's spokesperson, Pat Nestor, stated that Shortsleeve would have signed the legislation but accused Governor Maura Healey of using abortion to distract from economic and affordability issues.
• ▪Governor Maura Healey framed the new abortion legislation as a shield to protect reproductive healthcare access in Massachusetts regardless of actions taken by Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress, or the Supreme Court.
• ▪Governor Maura Healey stated on August 10, 2026, that abortion is on the ballot in the upcoming election, framing it as a defining issue against her Republican opponents.

Medical provider advocacy

• ▪The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act was supported by major medical groups, including the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the state chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
• ▪Lynn M. Yee of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine stated that prior Massachusetts laws interfered with evidence-based care and forced patients to travel out of state.

Patient travel burden stories

• ▪Guttmacher Institute data shows that in 2025, 150 patients traveled from Florida, where abortion is banned after six weeks, to Massachusetts to obtain abortion care.
• ▪Boston residents Kate Dineen and Alex Lawton advocated for the law change after traveling 500 miles to Maryland and paying $10,000 for an abortion at 33 weeks following a catastrophic fetal stroke in utero.

Anti-abortion opposition arguments

• ▪Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn criticized the law, stating that legalizing elective abortion up to birth on healthy mothers and fetuses normalizes the deaths of fully-developed infants.
• ▪National Right to Life President Carol Tobias stated that the new Massachusetts law erased the final protections for unborn children who can feel pain.
• ▪Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser condemned the law, arguing that the United States is one of only eight countries globally that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy.

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