Page 22 - BusinessWest July 25, 2022

Rallying Cry
OBill Aims to Protect Reproductive and Gender-affirming Care
n July 13, the Massachusetts State The bill, filed by state Sen. Cindy Friedman, nerable groups will not have to worry in our state Senate unanimously passed a biparti- expands on her amendment to the Senate FY when it comes to their reproductive health.”
san bill protecting providers, residents, 2023 budget, which was filed in response to the Under the legislation, physicians, nurses,
and visitors to the Commonwealth who engage in legally protected reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare.
“An Act Expanding Protections for Reproduc- tive and Gender-affirming Care” includes provi- sions preventing the Commonwealth’s coopera- tion with ‘bounty-style’ anti-abortion and anti- gender-affirming care laws in other states, man- dates health-insurance coverage for abortion and abortion-related care with no cost sharing, ensures access to emergency contraception, and provides confidentiality to providers of reproduc- tive and gender-affirming care.
“We cannot let other states threaten Mas- sachusetts pregnant and transgender people or the providers who take care of them,” said Sen- ate President Karen Spilka. “Massachusetts will not waver in protecting our residents’ rights. The Legislature prepared for the end of Roe v. Wade by passing the ROE Act in 2020, which ensured the continuation of reproductive healthcare services when we could no longer count on the federal government. Now, we must prepare our Commonwealth for the potential further erosion of our rights and protections at the federal level. I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for their swift and decisive action.”
leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson and adopted by the Senate in late May.
Friedman, Senate chair of the Joint Commit- tee on Health Care Financing and the lead spon- sor of the bill, called the legislation “a monu- mental step forward in Massachusetts, as we
are seeing increasingly more anti-abortion and anti-gender-affirming care legislation rise across the country. We must do everything to protect the rights of our providers, patients, and visi- tors to the Commonwealth. As we further realize the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson in our Commonwealth, we will continue to fight these attacks on reproduc- tive and gender-affirming care with meaningful action.”
State Sen. Adam Gomez added that the bill sends a clear message: “we will not let the rights of pregnant or transgender people be threatened in our state. The decision handed down a few weeks ago from the United States Supreme Court means the criminalization of a deeply personal healthcare decision made between a child-bear- ing person and their doctor. This criminalization will disproportionately impact low-income com- munities, communities of color, and single par- ents. This legislation will ensure that these vul-
physician assistants, pharmacists, psychologists, genetic counselors, and social workers are insu- lated from legal action in Massachusetts courts as a result of providing healthcare services that are legal in Massachusetts. This language specifi- cally protects reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare, which has been the target of laws passed in states like Texas and Oklahoma that seek to limit this critical care beyond their states’ borders. This bill also allows anyone who faces abusive litigation in another state for provid-
ing legally protected reproductive and gender- affirming care services to sue in Massachusetts court to obtain a judgment, including actual damages, expenses, costs, and reasonable attor- ney’s fees.
The governor would be prevented under the legislation from extraditing someone to another state to face charges for an abortion, gender-dys- phoria treatment, or another protected service, except when required by federal law or unless the acts forming the basis of the investigation would also constitute an offense if occurring entirely
in Massachusetts. Law-enforcement agencies in Massachusetts
would also be pro- hibited from assist-
Law
Continued on page 23
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