BOSTON (WHDH) - In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order to protect access to reproductive health care services in Massachusetts.
“I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision by the Supreme Court which will have major consequences for women across the country who live in states with limited access to reproductive health care services. The Commonwealth has long been a leader in protecting a woman’s right to choose and access to reproductive health services, while other states have criminalized or otherwise restricted access,” Baker said.
Baker noted the importance of allowing doctors to continue providing reproductive health care “without concern that the laws of other states may be used to interfere with those services or sanction them for providing services that are lawful in the Commonwealth,” he said. The order is designed to shield providers who perform abortions and other services for out-of-state patients as well as the patients themselves.
Specifically, the order prohibits executive department agencies and their employees from assisting investigations or other proceedings from other states that would sanction those who provide or assist with procuring reproductive health services. It also protects health care and other professionals in this field in Massachusetts, and directs the governor’s office to decline requests from other states to issue warrants for arrest for offenses dealing with reproductive health care services.
Reactions also poured in from other Bay State lawmakers.
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood is an egregious and overtly political act that jeopardizes the health, safety, and freedom of millions of Americans. Abolish the filibuster, pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and expand the Court now,” Sen. Ed Markey tweeted.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said “extremists are trying to send us back to the days when women had no control over their own bodies and their own futures. So if this feels like a personal attack, that’s because it is.”
She told Americans “not to give into despair,” and said she’d do everything she can to increase the number of allies in the fight to protect abortion access.
Congresswoman Katherine Clark tweeted that “overturning the right to an abortion brings us to the horrifying reality of government-mandated pregnancy — we are now living in a dystopian nightmare. Forced pregnancy is morally abhorrent, and this decision will set women back decades. But we are not powerless. We will fight.”
Lawmakers also reminded Bay Staters that abortion is legal in the state.
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