Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is facing backlash after using an emergency executive maneuver to prevent voters from having a say on a radical new abortion law that allows the killing of unborn babies up to the moment of birth.
Healey, a Democrat who identifies as a Catholic, signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act on Aug. 10. The law struck down Massachusetts' 24-week abortion limit and replaced it with what it calls the "professional judgment of the physician" — effectively legalizing abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Under the law, doctors have sole discretion over whether to perform late-term abortions. Massachusetts now joins a short list of states, including Alaska, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., in permitting abortion up to birth.
Pro-life advocates responded immediately. The Compassionate Care Coalition, an alliance of groups including Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Massachusetts Family Action, Massachusetts Family Institute, Democrats for Life of America and the Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance, launched the Repeal188 petition drive. The coalition collected more than 113,000 signatures — nearly double the roughly 50,000 required — to place a referendum on the 2028 ballot and suspend the law until voters could decide its future.
Then Healey intervened. On Nov. 6, before the Secretary of the Commonwealth could verify the signatures, the governor filed an emergency preamble putting the law into effect two days early. Under normal procedure, the law would not have taken effect until Nov. 8.
Healey defended the move in a post on her Substack, claiming that at least nine patients had been denied care since she signed the bill. "If certified, that effort would suspend the law until voters decide its future. That could mean two more years of women being denied care," she wrote. "That's not a reality I can accept here in Massachusetts."
The governor, who won reelection in a landslide earlier this month, said she would respect the will of voters if they repealed the law in 2028 — but argued families should not have to wait for the care they need while the ballot process plays out.
Pro-life leaders were not persuaded.
"She has not sufficiently explained the 'emergency' that warrants her undemocratic rejection of the people's will, because such an emergency does not exist, only weakness on her part," Flynn said in a statement.
The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts also rebuked the governor, citing her stated faith while doing so. Healey has previously said, "My faith teaches me to meet people with compassion," a line the bishops' conference pointed to in challenging her decision to enact an unrestricted abortion law.
The coalition has offered a concrete alternative. Partnering with Wicker & Reed, a private adoption agency based at His Providence Church in Swansea, the group says it has connected with 11 families who are licensed or in the process of becoming licensed to adopt in Massachusetts. According to LifeNews.com, all 11 families are ready to welcome babies, including those with serious medical needs whose lives may be short.
"We believe the most compassionate path is one where every mother is supported and every baby, however short their life, knows only love, warmth and comfort," said Sam Miele, chairman of the Compassionate Care Coalition.
The coalition has publicly called on Reproductive Equity Now to connect the nine mothers Healey referenced with Wicker & Reed so that each knows the full range of options available. Kim Gagne, executive director of Wicker & Reed, told LifeNews that over the past two years the agency can identify only one such pregnancy that ended in a baby dying in abortion, despite handling many calls involving late-term pregnancies.
The ballot question process will still proceed, and the referendum could ultimately appear before voters in 2028. But for now, the law stands — and the fight over whether 113,000 Bay State residents get a say has moved to the court of public opinion.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what happened here. More than 113,000 Massachusetts residents — nearly double the threshold required by state law — signed their names to demand a vote on a law that allows the destruction of fully formed unborn children. Gov. Healey's response was not to make her case to those voters. It was to run out the clock, using an emergency preamble to jam the law into effect two days before the certification process could play out.
If the law were genuinely popular, why the panic? Why the rush? Healey claims an emergency exists because nine patients were allegedly denied care. But the coalition behind the repeal effort has offered a real, concrete answer: 11 families ready to adopt these children, including those with severe medical conditions. The Compassionate Care Coalition asked the governor's allies to connect those mothers with an adoption agency. Instead, Healey doubled down.
The bishops of her own state, citing her own professed faith, have rebuked her. A self-described Catholic governor just overrode the democratic will of her constituents to preserve the killing of babies up to the moment of birth. Whatever you call that, it is not compassion — and it is not democracy.
