BOSTON, Massachusetts — Massachusetts has eliminated its statutory 24-week cutoff for abortion, allowing physicians to determine whether to provide the procedure later in pregnancy based on their professional medical judgment.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the measure Monday, making Massachusetts the tenth state, along with Washington, D.C., without a specific gestational limit written into law. Previously, abortions at or after 24 weeks were permitted only under defined circumstances involving the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or certain fetal diagnoses.
The change does not require doctors or hospitals to perform abortions at any stage. Instead, it removes the state’s statutory list of qualifying conditions and leaves later-pregnancy decisions to licensed physicians. Major Massachusetts medical organizations supported the legislation, arguing that rigid legal criteria can interfere with care when severe fetal abnormalities or pregnancy complications are discovered late.
One prominent supporter, Kate Dineen, traveled from Massachusetts to Maryland for an abortion after her son suffered a catastrophic fetal stroke at 33 weeks because her circumstances did not qualify under the previous law.
Abortions after 24 weeks remain exceptionally uncommon, and only a small number of U.S. providers perform them.
Anti-abortion groups strongly opposed the change, arguing it eliminates meaningful limits on later procedures. Healey countered that medical decisions should remain between patients, families and physicians rather than politicians.
The law further separates Massachusetts from states that have enacted near-total or early-pregnancy abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.
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