Massachusetts pro-life groups want volunteers to collect signatures against the state’s new abortion law.
Organizers say Attorney General Andrea Campbell approved their referendum petition.
The Compassionate Care Coalition wants voters to repeal Chapter 188 in 2028. It also wants to collect enough signatures to suspend the law before it takes effect Nov. 8.
Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, announced the petition’s approval in an email this week.
“Attorney General Andrea Campbell has just approved our petition to repeal Governor Healey’s radical abortion-up-to-birth law,” Flynn wrote.
Flynn is the coalition’s vice chair.
The coalition includes Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Massachusetts Family Action and the Massachusetts Alliance to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortion.
Campbell’s approval lets the campaign start circulating petition sheets. It doesn't automatically put the repeal question on the ballot.
The campaign must now collect tens of thousands of signatures from registered Massachusetts voters.
Gov. Maura Healey signed Chapter 188 last month.
The law changes the law for abortions that take place after 24 weeks.
Current law says abortions can only take place after 24 weeks under four circumstances. Those include protecting the woman's life, her physical and mental health, when the baby has a lethal diagnosis, or a grave diagnosis that makes life outside the womb unsustainable without extraordinary medical treatment.
Chapter 188 removes those four listed conditions.
It replaces them with language saying a physician can perform an abortion “based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
The law also says a medical review process can't override the treating physician’s decision.
Another section removes the requirement that abortions after 24 weeks take place in a hospital when there is no emergency.
Coalition leaders say the new language allows for elective abortions past 24 weeks.
The House passed the legislation 119-33 in July. Nine House Democrats opposed the measure, as did every House Republican. The Senate passed it by voice vote, meaning there's no roll call.
Compassionate Care Coalition Chairman Sam Miele says the referendum wouldn't ban abortion in Massachusetts; it would just keep the laws as they are today.
Putting the question before voters in 2028 will require 37,289 certified signatures.
The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s referendum guide says suspending the law while the referendum proceeds will require 49,716 certified signatures. The maximum number of signatures that can come from one county is 12,429.
The coalition says it wants to collect 100,000 raw signatures to ensure they have more than enough certified ones.
The first deadline is Oct. 23.
Organizers have to submit their signatures to local election officials by that date. City and town officials will check whether each signer is a registered voter in that municipality.
Then, the certified petition sheets are due at Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office on Nov. 6.
Flynn said the coalition especially needs regional coordinators.
These are volunteers who oversee all the signature collectors in a specific area. They would explain the rules, distribute petition sheets, and collect the completed forms.
Additionally, they would ensure every sheet reaches the right city and town hall before the deadline.
The campaign posted a volunteer form for people interested in helping their cause.
Healey could complicate the suspension effort by attaching an emergency preamble to the law.
She used that power in 2024 to prevent the state’s gun law from being suspended while opponents pursued a referendum.
NewBostonPost previously reported that Healey wouldn't say whether she would do the same with Chapter 188.
For more information on the coalition's effort, you can visit https://repeal188.com/.
