Katie Castellani
State House News Service
Senate Democrats are joining a push initiated last week in the House to loosen restrictions on later-term abortions.
On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Rules announced it voted 5-1 to place the House's bill (H 5595) on the Senate's calendar for a vote of the full body, a key step forward for the controversial legislation. Democratic Sens. William Brownsberger, Brendan Crighton, Joan Lovely, Jason Lewis and Cindy Friedman voted in favor of placing the bill on the Orders of the Day. Sen. Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican, voted against that move and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr opted out of voting yes or no.
The bill addresses abortions that can be performed after 24 weeks of gestation, scrapping four types of exemptions currently outlined in statute for life-threatening situations for the mother or fetus, and giving deference to doctors' professional judgment.
Supporters say the change in law would enable more residents with serious complications to remain in Massachusetts rather than needing to travel out of state to seek care.
The House passed the bill on a 119-33 vote on July 22, with all Republicans who voted rejecting the bill. Democrats who rejected the bill included Reps. Brian Ashe, Lisa Field, Michael Finn, Dennis Gallagher, Russell Holmes, Christopher Markey, Francisco Paulino, Alan Silvia and Jeffrey Turco. Rep. Susannah Whipps, the chamber's only Independent member, voted yes.
Rep. Kelly Pease, a Westfield Republican, said last week that he was blindsided by the legislation.
"I think most of our caucus was. It's like, where did this come from?" Pease said. "I don't see how I'm going to be in favor of a bill that allows babies over six months to be terminated when they're probably viable outside the womb, unless there's extenuating circumstances, and this kind of just takes away some of the safeguards that were in place before."
Sen. Cindy Friedman signaled earlier this week that the chamber was "working on" an abortion-related bill. Friedman is vice chair of the Rules Committee, which is chaired by Salem Democrat Sen. Joan Lovely.