Apparently Satan Lives In Massachusetts
- Rex Ballard
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Massachusetts Legalizes Abortion Up to Birth
On August 10, 2026, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (a professed Catholic) signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act (H.5595 / Acts of 2026, Chapter 188), removing the state’s previous 24-week gestational limit and specific statutory exceptions for later abortions. The new law states that after 24 weeks, “an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”
The measure takes effect in 90 days (around November 8, 2026). Previously, abortions after 24 weeks were allowed only in defined cases: to preserve the life or physical/mental health of the mother, or for lethal or grave fetal diagnoses incompatible with sustained life outside the womb without extraordinary intervention. The new language eliminates those guardrails and relies solely on a doctor’s professional judgment.
Massachusetts now joins a small group of states (including Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia) with no gestational age limits written into law. Late-term abortions remain relatively rare nationwide—about 1% of procedures occur after 21 weeks according to CDC data—but critics note that the law removes meaningful legal boundaries even for healthy, viable babies capable of feeling pain and surviving outside the womb.
Healey framed the signing as protecting patients facing “devastating fetal diagnoses” or “serious pregnancy complications,” so they would not have to travel out of state. Surrounded by supporters who smiled and applauded, she said: “We believe that health care decisions should be made between women and families and their doctors, not politicians. Abortion will remain safe. It will remain legal, and it will remain accessible here in Massachusetts.”
Religious and Pro-Life Outrage
The response from religious leaders and pro-life organizations has been sharp and unified.
The four Catholic bishops of Massachusetts—Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston, Bishop Robert J. McManus of Worcester, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha of Fall River, and Bishop William D. Byrne of Springfield—had already warned lawmakers before the final vote. In a July 29 joint statement, they called the bill “a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” emphasizing the Church’s teaching on “the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death.” After the signing, Archbishop Henning described it as “a grave offense against the sanctity and dignity of every person.”
Evangelist Franklin Graham reacted with moral clarity: “This sends a chill up my spine. Smiles and applause while the Democratic Massachusetts governor signs a bill to allow abortions up to birth in her state. This is murder. It’s evil. She calls abortion healthcare for women. The Bible says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil’ (Isaiah 5:20). This governor and those cheering will one day stand before a Holy God—I don’t think they will be cheering then.”
Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, called the signature “politically motivated” and said the law is “not about protecting the doctor-patient relationship” but about “abortionists normalizing the deaths of fully-developed infants and pressuring vulnerable women to permit their unborn children to die in heinous acts of violence.” She noted that such elective late-term abortions are among “the most severe human rights abuses permitted in only a few places around the world, including China and North Korea.”
Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America stated: “It takes a truly dead heart to celebrate and sign a bill that allows viable babies to be killed in the womb via heart attacks when they could live outside of it.” Live Action’s Lila Rose and other national pro-life voices similarly condemned the measure as legalizing the intentional killing of preborn children up to birth for virtually any reason under a doctor’s judgment.
CatholicVote and others have publicly called for the bishops to consider canonical consequences, including potential excommunication of the Catholic governor, arguing the public celebration of the law constitutes grave scandal. Petitions on the matter quickly gathered tens of thousands of signatures.
