No referendum asking voters to allow the state government to stop paying for abortions will appear on the statewide ballot in 2020, because pro-life advocates didn't gather enough signatures.
Supporters of the measure fell more than 7,000 short of the 64,750 they needed, said Thomas Harvey, executive director of Alliance To Stop Taxpayer Funding of Abortion.
Dean Tran, a Fitchburg city councilor who was born in Vietnam, won a special election for Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday night. Tran, who opposed a Planned Parenthood facility that opened in Fitchburg several years ago, replaces a Democrat who resigned, giving the Republicans now seven seats in the 40-seat Senate.
