Massachusetts bishops: Elimination of ‘any legal restraint’ on late-term abortion is ‘gravely immoral’
Caroline MolloyThe “elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion” is “a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts said.
The bishops made the comments in a July 29 statement issued in response to the July 22 passage by the Massachusetts House of Representatives of a measure removing prior legal restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Senate passage followed on July 31, the last day of that chamber’s formal session.
On Aug. 10, Gov. Maura Healey signed the bill — “An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care” — into law.
At the signing ceremony, Healey, a Catholic and a longtime advocate of a legal right to abortion, promised that “no matter” what President Donald Trump, U.S. Senate Republicans or the Supreme Court do with regard to abortion, “we’re going to continue to make sure that women and families have access to the health care that they need right here in Massachusetts.”
The new law allows physicians to perform abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if in their “professional judgment” it is medically necessary. It also eliminates the requirement that late-term abortions be performed in a hospital setting, allowing licensed physicians to provide abortions in other eligible health care and treatment centers.
In Massachusetts, which has some of the most permissive abortion laws in the nation, abortions after 24 weeks had previously been allowed only to preserve the patient’s life or their physical or mental health, or in cases of lethal or severe fetal abnormalities.
“As Catholic bishops we have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching and the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death,” the bishops’ statement read. They had expressed hope the Senate “would not follow the House on this measure.”
The four Massachusetts bishops — Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston, Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha of Fall River and Bishop William D. Byrne of Springfield — released their joint statement through the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts.
