After warning that shifts on the U.S. Supreme Court could put reproductive rights at risk in Massachusetts, state lawmakers on Thursday morning sent to legislation to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk that would eliminate old state laws dealing with abortion and contraception, including a mid-1800s law banning all abortion and a ban on contraception for unmarried couples.
The bill (S 2260/H 4770), which first cleared the Senate in January, picked up steam in recent weeks following the announced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Many Democrats around the country have expressed fears that the changing makeup of the Supreme Court could lead to the overturning of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing women's access to abortion.
"What we have done here (Wednesday) is to make sure Massachusetts is prepared in case," said House Majority Whip Byron Rushing, a South End Democrat who has long pushed to clean up the state's antiquated statutes.
On Wednesday, the House passed the legislation repealing old state laws that lay out criminal penalties for performing or undergoing an abortion, limiting contraception access to married couples, and requiring that all abortions provided from the thirteenth week of pregnancy onward be performed in a hospital.
The House and Senate took final votes on Thursday morning to enact the bill and ensure that it takes effect immediately once Gov. Baker signs his name, which is expected to happen.
"I'm conceptually in support of it," Baker, a pro-choice Republican, told reporters on Monday. "Obviously, it depends upon what version ultimately ends up making it through the process, but if the legislation, as it's currently constituted, ends up being what ends up on our desk the LG and I are comfortable with that."
House Judiciary Committee Co-chair Rep. Claire Cronin said the bill came as a response to "repeated attempts" to limit women's rights to make decisions about health care choices, contraception and access to care. She also referenced conservative appellate court judge Kavanaugh's pending nomination.
"We have seen this both legislatively and through budgetary processes," she said. "The changing dynamic of the Supreme Court is a real and legitimate concern. We have both a president and a vice president who have expressed an intent to overturn Roe v. Wade and we take them at their word. We must ensure that if this occurs, in Massachusetts we have taken the necessary steps to protect the right to choice and to protect the right to access to health care and access to the information need to make private medical decisions. These will be upheld."
The bill's architects have described it as the "NASTY Women Act" to memorialize Trump's characterization of Hillary Clinton as a "nasty woman" during the 2016 presidential campaign. Senate President Harriett Chandler wore the moniker proudly on Wednesday.
"Today, nasty women and their nasty men are here to say we're not going to stand for it," Chandler said.
Rushing said certain old laws should be repealed because they could be enforced in unforeseeable ways.
He noted former Gov. Mitt Romney's bid in 2004 to enforce a 1913 law, originally designed to prevent interracial couples from coming to Massachusetts to be legally married, in an attempt to prevent same-sex couples from other states from coming to Massachusetts and legally getting married here after the Supreme Judicial Court legalized gay marriage.
"It is critical that we take all archaic laws off of our books because we never know how an old, hateful law will be used in new, hateful ways in the future," said Rushing, who called the old laws "incredibly anti-female, anti-family" during debate on the bill.
Speaker Robert DeLeo said Massachusetts will "always stand for women's rights," and Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad warned that lawmakers must stay vigilant.
"We can never, never relax because someone is out there looking for a loophole that will deny someone their rights," Haddad said at a rally after the House vote.
Rep. James Lyons (R-Andover) criticized the bill and House leadership during brief floor remarks on Wednesday. He accused House leaders, who repeatedly urged him to limit his remarks to the content of the bill, of trying to shut-off debate in order to advance "talking points' of the Democratic Party.
"I understand that you have the power to do anything you want. It doesn't mean we have a power to shut us up," Lyons said. "Mr. Speaker, we have a right to speak. And there is a difference of opinion in Massachusetts whether you folks like it or not and that's something that I think is really, really important in an open and transparent environment. There is another side. There is another side."
Calling the bill a "total charade," Lyons said, "There is no legislation that is going to eliminate the types of things that you're talking about."
Rep. Colleen Garry of Dracut and Rep. Alan Silvia of Fall River were the only two Democrats to vote against the bill, along with seven House Republicans. Those GOP lawmakers voting against were Reps. Betty Poirier, Geoff Diehl, Sheila Harrington, Kevin Kuros, Marc Lombardo, Lyons and Keiko Orrall.
NARAL Pro Choice Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts met with DeLeo last week at the State House to make their final pitch to the speaker, who joked Wednesday to NARAL Executive Director Rebecca Hart Holder that she could "stop twisting my arm" now.
"We all know Donald Trump wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and the statement today was, 'Not in Massachusetts,' " Holder said.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says that in Kavanaugh, Trump has found "someone to overturn Roe v. Wade" and Attorney General Maura Healey has said Kavanaugh "would be the deciding vote to overturn Roe v. Wade" and criticized "the extremity of his views and his opinions."
In a fundraising email this week, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford said that Baker has "refused to comment directly on the choice, and only asked the Senate to consider the implications for Roe v. Wade." Bickford wrote, "It's no wonder Baker won't take a firm stand. He's stuck between his party, led by Donald Trump, and the people of Massachusetts."
While in Westfield on July 10, Baker reacted to the Kavanaugh nomination.
"Well I'm a big believer in a woman's right to choose and I think that needs to be a fundamental part of the vetting process and I hope it's a fundamental part of the vetting process as they move forward here," Baker said. "I support a right to choose here in Massachusetts and will continue to support that, but I do think this is an important time for the Senate to do its job, and by doing its job, I mean engage in the conversation in a thorough and serious way and ensure that this candidate is going to treat the precedent of Roe v. Wade appropriately going forward."
This report was originally published by State House News Service.
