Massachusetts late-term abortion legislation

Massachusetts Senate passes bill to expand late-term abortion access

Massachusetts House Passes Bill to Loosen Late-Term Abortion Rules

A woman had to leave Massachusetts for an abortion at 33 weeks due to legal exception limitations.

In 2021, a case was cited involving a woman who had to leave Massachusetts to undergo an abortion at 33 weeks after her fetus suffered a stroke. This occurred because providers did not believe the situation met the existing legal exceptions under state law.

Under the law in place at that time, abortion was legal for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, with specific exceptions permitted only for the woman's life, physical or mental health, lethal fetal anomaly, or if the fetus was unlikely to survive outside the uterus.