Abortion advocates warned of future threats that could impact reproductive rights in Massachusetts at a Senate hearing Wednesday. (KeynoteUSA Photo/Eric Gay, File)
While Massachusetts is still adjusting to the fall of Roe v. Wade, more threats are coming, abortion advocates warned at a Senate hearing Wednesday.
“Dobbs was a clear and devastating loss, but it’s not an endgame,” said Kathryn Fay, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a member of Physicians for Reproductive Health. “I am concerned about the loss of mifepristone, the federal ban on abortion, and threats to contraception and assisted reproductive technology – all dangers that will transcend state lines. Abortion without stipulation is essential, necessary, compassionate and life-saving medical care.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, joined by Senator Ed Markey, chaired a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Boston on the economic and health impacts of threats to reproductive rights. The hearing featured Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and representatives from the ACLU, medical and reproductive advocacy groups.
Since the Dobbs v. Jackson of the Supreme Court struck down the national right to abortion, speakers said, Massachusetts instilled the nation’s first “Shield Law” to protect access for out-of-state providers and patients. Since then, health care providers have seen a “rising tidal wave,” one advocate said.
“Overall, it is estimated that 4,500 more abortions were performed in the Massachusetts formal health care system in 2023 compared to 2020,” Fay said. “Last year, one in 15 people who had an abortion in Massachusetts was from out of state.”
The rising numbers mean a higher appointment load and more pressure on funding for providers and the health system in the state, said Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder. Massachusetts residents, particularly in “access deserts” in western and southeastern Massachusetts, face higher barriers, longer wait times and are turned away more frequently, she said.
“Restrictions on abortion care during pregnancy also continue to send patients out of our state to receive care,” Hart Holder said. “Meanwhile, severe maternal morbidity has nearly doubled in Massachusetts between 2011 and 2020, with Black mothers experiencing the worst complication rates. Access to abortion is intrinsically related to maternal health.”
Speakers said the data shows a disproportionate impact on low-income people, BIPOC communities, LGBTQ people and rural communities.
Abortion patients he has treated from out of state have cited fetal anomalies, abusive partners, housing instability, assault, contraceptive failure and many other reasons, Fay said.
Beyond the current threats cited by speakers, national efforts threaten attention in Massachusetts. These include proposed federal legislation that would impose a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks with limited exceptions, the “Life at Conception Act” to establish the “personhood” of fertilized embryos or fetuses, the proposed use of the Comstock Act of 1873 to prevent mail-in abortions. and the legal challenge to the abortion drug Mifepristone before the Supreme Court.
Several tactics, such as legislative efforts on fetal personhood, pose threats to contraceptive use, such as the use of IUDs to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, speakers said. They argued that other efforts open avenues for attacks on gender-affirming care.
Several speakers cited the state’s Abortion Legal Hotline, run in partnership with the Attorney General’s office, the Women’s Bar Foundation, the ACLU of Massachusetts and law firms, to provide patients and providers with information and legal advice on reproductive rights. in all the country.
Speakers discussed several ongoing legislative efforts to expand protections for reproductive health care, including Markey’s “Right to Contraception Act,” which federally protects the use of contraceptives like the IUD and the Plan B pill, and the “Location Data Act” introduced in Massachusetts, which protects patient location data from use by actors in other states.
“No one stops just overturning Roe,” Warren said. “No one is stopping, there are only 21 states that have restricted abortion. This is a monster that is moving. And it is urgent that we counterattack.”
Keynote USA
For the Latest Local News, Follow @Keynote USA Local on Twitter.