Massachusetts House passes abortion expansion provision in state budget

The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a provision in a budget bill this week that attempts to greatly expand abortion rights in the state, marking a victory for pro-abortion-rights advocates.

Current state law says that an abortion cannot be performed in the state after six months of pregnancy unless "it is necessary to save the life of the mother, or if a continuation of her pregnancy will impose on her a substantial risk of grave impairment of her physical or mental health."

Amendment 759.1 to the state budget, passed by the Democrat-controlled House on Thursday, would revise that rule to be notably more inclusive of pregnancy termination, stipulating that a post-six-month abortion could be performed "if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health." 

The change would also put into state law a rule that physicians can perform an abortion if they determined that an unborn child possessed "a lethal fetal anomaly that is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus."

The proposal was reportedly motivated by concerns that the Supreme Court could soon rule on the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in a way to significantly reduce federal protection of abortion throughout the country.