Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a bill this week removing all gestational limits on abortion after 24 weeks, allowing physicians to perform the procedure at any point in a pregnancy based on their own professional judgment. Nine Democratic state representatives voted against it alongside Republicans. The word one of them used was “barbaric.”That’s a Democrat. In Massachusetts. Calling his own governor’s signature abortion legislation barbaric.
State Rep. Jeffrey Turco put it plainly: “This new law represents an extremist and dangerous position. To be clear, it allows abortion anytime, unrestricted, and in many cases, publicly funded until the moment of birth. The new law is barbaric.”
State Rep. Chris Markey said the bill “creates a very slippery slope” and puts doctors “in a very difficult ethical dilemma, as well as conflicts with the vast majority of my constituents.” His words: “While many are pro-choice, you can still be pro-choice and see this law as going beyond the norms of acceptability.”
The left has spent years telling Americans that late-term abortion is vanishingly rare — performed only in tragic circumstances involving wanted pregnancies and devastating diagnoses. If that were true, existing Massachusetts law already accommodated those cases. Physicians could already perform post-viability abortions when necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother. What the new law changes is not the medical exceptions. It eliminates the framework that required any justification at all.
The bill passed 119-33 in the state House, largely along party lines, after being rushed through in two weeks without public comment. That’s how you legislate when you know public opinion is not on your side. You move fast, limit debate, and sign it before anyone has time to ask what exactly you’re doing.
The polling context is worth noting carefully. A 2024 survey found 66 percent of Massachusetts voters supported expanding access after 24 weeks. But support for “expanding access” in a survey and support for unrestricted abortion through all nine months with public funding are not the same thing. The former is a carefully crafted poll question. The latter is what Massachusetts actually passed. When voters see what was actually signed — when Turco’s “barbaric” assessment reaches communities that don’t follow statehouse procedural votes — the poll numbers will look considerably different.
Republicans have spent years being told they’re on the wrong side of the abortion issue after Dobbs. Massachusetts just handed them the clearest possible example of what the other side’s extreme looks like. Not Roe. Not reasonable exceptions. No restrictions. Any pregnancy. Any stage. Publicly funded. Through all nine months.
“Barbaric,” said the Democrat from Winthrop. He’s right. And every Republican in a competitive district should make sure their voters know it.