Pro-life citizens in Massachusetts are showing how to fight back against state laws that permit the killing of babies through all nine months of pregnancy.
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed such a law Aug. 10, and it has been slated to go into effect Nov. 8. It will remove all restrictions on late-term abortions, simply stating that after 24 weeks “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
But the Compassionate Care Coalition, which includes Massachusetts Family Action, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Massachusetts Family Institute, Democrats for Life of America and Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance, moved quickly, seeking to put the matter to voters by including it on the ballot in 2028.
The People Have Spoken
The group filed a referendum petition Sept. 2 with Secretary of State Bill Galvin and began seeking volunteers to encourage people to sign the petition. They needed to obtain 37,289 certified signatures by Oct. 23 in order to add the repeal to the 2028 ballot, and if they could obtain 49,716, the law could be suspended pending the result of the 2028 voting.
The coalition announced this week that they had submitted 99,962 signatures to city and town clerks, well above the threshold to suspend the law.
“The people of Massachusetts did not ask for abortion through all nine months, and in a matter of weeks they made that clear,” said Sam Miele, chairman of the Compassionate Care Coalition and director of Massachusetts Family Action. “We are grateful to every volunteer, pastor and parish staffer who carried a clipboard. Because of them, voters will have the final say.”
Healey could still keep the law in force until the 2028 vote by attaching an emergency preamble to the law. An update at the Massachusetts Family Institute urged Healey not to do that, stating, “The people have spoken clearly, and their voice deserves respect. … That would be yet another unilateral decision from Beacon Hill [the state government] that ignores the will of the people. Voters deserve the chance to preserve the dignity of Life in the Commonwealth before this law ever takes effect.”
