LWVMA joined its partners in the ROE Act Coalition as part of a marathon hearing at the State House June 17 on H.3320/S.1209 An Act to remove obstacles and expand abortion access, commonly known as the ROE Act. Supporters of abortion rights, many in bright pink shirts, packed Gardner Auditorium and overflowed into the Great Hall and into other hearing rooms in the State House.
The Joint Committee on the Judiciary began hearing testimony on this bill at 3 p.m. And the testimony kept coming from both sides of the issue. Tracy Brown, LWVMA’s legislative specialist on women’s issues, finally got her turn to testify at 8:20 p.m.! Â
Along with Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other defenders of reproductive rights, LWVMA continues to support this bill and urges League members and other advocates to contact state legislators to counteract the inaccurate and incendiary message from the opponents of abortion.
The ROE Act would remove the requirement that minors have either parental or judicial consent for an abortion; would add a diagnosis of a fatal fetal anomaly as a reason for an abortion after 24 weeks, and would establish safety-net coverage for abortion for people excluded from MassHealth. Such coverage already exists for all other pregnancy-related care.