Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey issued an executive order on Monday, the anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which she says establishes the state as a “beacon” for abortion.
The order ensures that the state’s hospitals and health care providers will provide “emergency abortion care.”
“In this building, we are showing unity on this issue,” Healey said. “Today we make clear a women’s choice. Her reproductive choices are hers. There is no question they are defended in Massachusetts.”
“There are many reasons women need abortions,” Healey declared. “Early interventions are safer, more effective and do not pose as great a risk to women.”
Healey’s announcement comes in advance of the Supreme Court’s decisions in two cases, Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, which will determine whether or not Idaho emergency room doctors can intentionally end the lives of preborn children by abortion for allegedly “medically necessary” reasons.
However, in contrast to the facts in these cases, Rebecca Hart Holden, president of Reproductive Equity Now, claimed, “The Supreme Court is to decide whether people with pregnancy complications should be allowed to live.”
Despite inflammatory claims that pregnant women experiencing complications will die, emergency treatment to save the life of the mother has always been legal — even in states where preborn children are protected from abortion. In the event that a preterm delivery is necessary, every effort can be made to save both the child and the mother, even if the baby dies despite those efforts. This is different from an induced abortion, which is the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child.
Miscarriage treatments, emergency deliveries, and treatment for ectopic pregnancies are not abortions and are legal in every state.
This distinction has previously been explained by Ingrid Skop, the vice president and director of medical affairs for Charlotte Lozier Institute.
“As a practicing OB-GYN, I care for both a mother and her unborn child, and in my 30 years of practice, I have never had to resort to an abortion to save a woman’s life. In fact, about 90% of my obstetric peers refuse to perform elective abortions,” she has said, adding, “Abortion advocates have one goal: to spread confusion through lies. They want to increase abortions on demand at any time in pregnancy, and they will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. It’s crucial that Americans, especially women, start questioning the abortion advocates weaponizing that confusion for their own benefit, rather than the pro-life protections that very clearly protect pregnant women facing heartbreaking situations.”
