BOSTON (WHDH) - Governor Charlie Baker held a ceremonial signing Wednesday of Massachusetts’s new sweeping reproductive health law.
“To women especially, but to people across the country, that Massachusetts will be there for them,” said Baker
In June, the Supreme Court reversed the decades-old Roe v. Wade ruling that affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion in the U.S. The decision triggered anti-abortion laws in some Republican-led legislatures but also sweeping nationwide protests across the country.
The new law plans to put in protections following the court’s ruling, ensuring providers of reproductive health, including abortion and gender-affirming care, are protected from out-of-state legal action. The bill passed with bipartisan support.
“To make sure that people have access to the health care services that are best, and right, and appropriate for them. And that the providers who deliver that care here in Massachusetts will be protected,” said Baker.
Massachusetts lawmakers are also looking to ease concerns around contraception access after many pharmacies reported seeing a spike in Plan B sales following the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“Access to these services without question, with coverage not only for the people and women in our Commonwealth, but for people in other places in our country,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito.
The new law also ensures insurance companies cover abortions without shifting the cost to patients.
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