Massachusetts House Democrats Vote To Legalize Unlimited Abortion Up To Birth

BOSTON — The Massachusetts House has passed legislation eliminating the need for specific medical justifications for abortions past 24 weeks, opening the door to effectively unlimited abortion up to birth.

Under current state law, an abortion may only be committed past 24 weeks if a physician deems it “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.”

Such exceptions, pro-lifers have long warned, give abortionists ample wiggle room to authorize late-term abortions under false pretenses. But H. 5595 would do away with even those conditions, replacing the language with “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.” It would also add language that “No medical review process shall override the professional judgment of a treating physician and a patient or the patient’s health care proxy to provide an abortion consistent with” the new section.

The bill passed the House 119 to 33 on July 22, and now moves to the state Senate for consideration.

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“We’ve decided to get away from all the exceptions and trust our medical professionals, who are the best in the world, to make those decisions with the informed consent of the patient,” said Democrat state Rep. Michael Day.

“The good intentions of this bill’s sponsors are gravely misplaced,” responds Massachusetts Citizens for Life president Myrna Maloney Flynn. “As written, their abortion-up-to-birth bill permits one physician to subjectively decide that any unborn infant can be killed in or outside of a hospital, even babies capable of surviving outside the womb and feeling pain within it.”

“Women experiencing unimaginable, heart wrenching pregnancy complications absolutely deserve all the support they need, but that support is not what this bill provides,” she added. “Instead, this bill ensures increased abortion industry profits and taxpayer-funded late-term procedures. The legislation promises that an already ominous shadow will grow even darker over the state of Massachusetts.”

Abortion defenders have long attempted to downplay late-term abortions as rare bordering on nonexistent, while opposing any attempt to restrict them. But the facts show they are a very real problem.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reviewed by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), while more than 90 percent of abortions occur in the first trimester, more than 50,000 abortions a year take place after 15 weeks (almost four months into pregnancy), and approximately 10,000 after 20 weeks (five months).

Further, contrary to pro-abortion narratives, most of these abortions are not even sought for medical emergencies. A 2013 Guttmacher report admitted “data suggests that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment,” and notorious late-term abortionist Warren Hern’s own published data found that fetal abnormalities ranged from just a fifth to a third of his clients – and that the most common of those “abnormalities” was Down syndrome, a condition that is neither a death sentence nor even a guarantee of an unhappy life. Yet, for years, congressional Democrats have consistently voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion-on-demand after five months.