{"id":234460,"date":"2020-11-19T09:38:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T15:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=234460"},"modified":"2020-11-19T09:39:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T15:39:15","slug":"massachusetts-house-codify-expand-abortion-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/massachusetts-house-codify-expand-abortion-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts House and Senate approve budget with amendments to codify abortion as a ‘right’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

UPDATE 11\/19\/2020<\/strong>: The Massachusetts Senate has passed<\/a> the $46 million proposed budget including Amendment 180 which aims to expand abortion. The Senate approved the budget in a vote of 33-7 with an amendment that would legalize eugenic abortion after 24 weeks for “fatal fetal anomalies.” Currently, the law allows for abortion after 24 weeks for the health of the mother though abortion is never medically necessary<\/a>. The amendment also lowers the age at which a teenager would need parental consent to undergo an abortion. Currently, anyone under 18 needs parental or judicial consent for an abortion. The amendment would change that to anyone under the age of 16. In addition, Amendment 180 will remove the language of current state law that requires doctors to attempt to save the life of a newborn abortion survivor.<\/p>\n

Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler (D) authored the amendment and said it must be passed in order to protect abortion access in Massachusetts because of the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. All four Republican state senators and three Democrats voted against the amendment.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers will now work<\/a> to reconcile the differences between the two House and Senate budgets. They aim to have it on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk by the end of the month.<\/p>\n

UPDATE 11\/13\/20<\/strong>: The Massachusetts House has approved a $46 million budget that includes an amendment<\/a> to expand abortion in the state. Members of the House voted<\/a> 143-14 in favor of the proposed budget, which gives them enough to override the expected veto by Gov. Charlie Baker, according to WBUR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Amendment 759, given the\u00a0Orwellian title “Improved Access to Healthcare,” is successful, it will enshrine abortion into state law, expand abortion after 24 weeks to include cases of fatal fetal anomalies, and will allow 16-year-olds to undergo abortions without parental or judicial permission.<\/p>\n

The state Senate is expected to raise its own budget amendment on abortions next week, according to WBZ 1030<\/a>.<\/p>\n

11\/12\/20<\/strong>: Members of the Massachusetts House have moved to add an amendment<\/a> to the state’s $46 million proposed budget that would codify abortion as a right and expand it in the state.<\/p>\n

Rep. Claire Cronin (D),\u00a0co-chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, filed Amendment 759, which is considered a version of the Massachusetts ROE Act<\/a>. The Amendment would legalize abortion after\u00a024 weeks for reasons other than the health of the mother (as the law currently states). It would also allow 16-year-olds to undergo abortions without parental consent.<\/p>\n

The ROE Act has been in discussion in Massachusetts since 2019, but since the confirmation of conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett last month, many legislative efforts to codify abortion into law have been fast-tracked. As Live Action News previously reported:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill removes medical safeguards for vulnerable women, hides abortions for underage girls from their parents, increases late term abortions, and promotes infanticide for babies who survive an abortion,\u201d Andrew Beckwith, President of the Massachusetts Family Institute told Live Action News. \u201cWhat\u2019s even more shocking, is that at Monday\u2019s hearing, supporters of the bill admitted to all of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Act aims to legalize abortion throughout the entire pregnancy, remove parental consent laws, and allow non-doctors to commit abortions. It would also eliminate a requirement to provide medical care to a baby who survives an abortion. It is unclear how precisely the objectives of Amendment 759 line up with the ROE Act.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Massachusetts puts profit over public safety, allowing abortions to continue during pandemic<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n