BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts has become the first state to approve money to offset the potential loss of federal funding to women’s reproductive health organizations since the Trump administration adopted a new rule meant to ban federally funded family planning clinics from making abortion referrals.
Massachusetts follows Maryland, which in 2017 passed a similar law meant to protect funding for Planned Parenthood.
The Massachusetts law sets aside $8 million in state dollars to close any gaps in federal Title X funding for health clinics that could lose funding by the proposed change — adopted by the administration in February and derided as a “gag rule” by critics.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker becomes the first governor to sign such legislation. The Maryland bill became law in 2017 without Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s signature.
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