Even Liberal Massachusetts Has Little Stomach for ROE Act Abortion Bill, New Poll Shows

Abortion is front and center in American politics this year. A number of conservative states, including Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, have recently passed laws that would extend legal protection to a significant number of unborn children. Meanwhile, for the first time in many years, there has been concerted effort in many politically liberal states to make their abortion laws even more permissive than they were at the beginning of the year. In January, New York enacted legislation that explicitly legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Illinois recently passed a law that, among other things, repeals the state's ban on partial birth abortion. The governor of Maine is expected to sign legislation that would require the state's taxpayers to pay for elective abortions through their state Medicaid program.

In Massachusetts, the state House of Representatives and state Senate are considering nearly identical bills known as the ROE Act, which would broaden access to abortion in a state that has only a handful of restrictions to begin with. It would essentially make abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy – even after 24 weeks, as long as it is deemed necessary to protect the unmeasurable mental health of the mother. It would also remove current legal protections for infants who survive abortions; remove the state's current requirement that abortions after 24 weeks be performed in hospitals; and remove the state's parental consent law. That means that for the first time since 1981, girls 17 and younger in Massachusetts could obtain abortions without receiving permission from a parent or a judge.