'Extremely dark day.' Massachusetts politicians condemn overturning of Roe v. Wade

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

State Senate President Karen Spilka called Friday "an extremely dark day for America."

One of her colleagues, state Sen. Becca Rausch, termed it "a disaster of epic proportions."

And Attorney General Maura Healey, a candidate for governor, said the decision marks the first time the high court "has taken away a constitutional right."

"The decision," of course, is that which was made Friday by the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade — the 1973 case in which the court ruled that the U.S. Constitution generally protects a pregnant woman's freedom to choose to have an abortion. But in a 6-3 decision, the court on Friday ruled the Constitution does not confer that right, thus leaving decisions about regulating abortion up to the states.

More: How will New England's abortion laws be affected by Friday's decision?

Rausch
Rausch

The court's ruling had been expected since a draft opinion leaked in early May.

"Today is an extremely dark day for America, as we face what can only be called a ‘nightmare scenario’ for women and those who can get pregnant across this nation," Spilka, D-Ashland, said in a statement. "It is important to stress that abortion remains, and will remain, legal in Massachusetts. This fundamental right to health care is here to stay in the commonwealth, and I will fight every day to strengthen and protect it."

Gov. Charlie Baker, within moments of Friday's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, signed an executive order that bars Massachusetts from cooperating with extradition attempts from other states that may pursue criminal charges in connection with receiving or performing reproductive health services that are legal here.

More: Ruling fuels worries throughout Massachusetts

Baker's order also protects Massachusetts reproductive health care providers from losing their licenses or receiving other professional discipline because of out-of-state charges, and prohibits agencies under the state's executive department from assisting another state's investigation into a person or entity for receiving or delivering reproductive health services in Massachusetts, the governor's office said.

Spilka
Spilka

"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," Baker said in a statement. "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. This executive order will further preserve that right and protect reproductive health care providers who serve out of state residents."

The roughly $50 billion fiscal 2023 state budget, which a six-person team of lawmakers is currently negotiating, also features a suite of protections for providers of reproductive and gender-affirming health care and their patients, which the Senate added into its version of the spending plan after last month's court leak. The budget bills also have funding aimed at "improving reproductive health care access, infrastructure and security," including grants to three abortion funds.

Rausch, a Needham Democrat whose Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District includes Wayland, Wellesley, Sherborn and Millis, as well as parts of Natick and Franklin, said the high court ruling "deeply stains our nation’s history and jurisprudence."

"It erases decades of progress on reproductive justice and paves a clear path for dismantling droves of basic civil rights interpreted into the Constitution," she said, citing contraception, marriage equality, consensual private sex and forced sterilization. "State legislatures, including Massachusetts, must act immediately to enact laws that preserve these rights. Absent robust state action, families will be torn apart, and pregnant and birthing people will die in numbers not seen in half a century."

Lewis
Lewis

State Rep. Jack Lewis, D-Framingham, noted that even though many saw Friday's ruling coming, "the news today is scary." In his statement, he also took a shot at politicians who present themselves as pro-choice but support those who are not. 

"Today’s Supreme Court decision, simply put, is a direct result of 50 years of candidates and judicial nominees lying to voters that abortion access was 'settled case law,' 50 years of allegedly pro-choice elected officials downplaying the role of and fundraising for anti-choice candidates within their own parties," Lewis said.

The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said it is not yet clear what the effect of Friday's ruling will be on "care demand in states like Massachusetts, nor on the liability of local health care providers who perform abortions."

"We echo the serious concerns of our colleagues across the country about what this will mean for the safety and well-being of patients in states that are stripping these fundamental rights away," the MHHA said in a statement. "This much we do know: No law can prevent someone from terminating a pregnancy. It can only prevent them from doing so safely with the consult of experienced, compassionate clinicians."

Healey, who is also a candidate for governor, pledged that Massachusetts will "do everything we can to ensure patients from across the country can receive needed care and to support and protect our providers who are offering that care."

She called on Congress to "keep abortion safe and legal" by codifying Roe, and state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, said Massachusetts should adopt an amendment "to enshrine reproductive freedom in our state constitution" as a safeguard against potential efforts to institute a federal abortion ban.

But the Massachusetts Family institute, which opposes abortion, knocked lawmakers for "working to make Boston a hub for abortions."

MFI President and general counsel Andrew Beckwith said the institute looks forward "to a reenergized fight to restore a culture of life to the commonwealth."

"A child conceived in Massachusetts should have the same right to be born as a child conceived in Mississippi," Beckwith said in a statement. "Tragically, the whole apparatus of state government in Massachusetts is aligned against the unborn and aligned with Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry."

Daily News Editor Dan O'Brien contributed to this report. 

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: MA. politicians condemn Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade