Lawmakers mull next move after Roe decision
You can expect state lawmakers to move swiftly on plans to further codify legal protections for reproductive rights in the state for both residents and visitors.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Ronald Mariano told the Herald on Sunday that she expects the speaker will address the House’s plan on protections for abortion-related care today.
In June, before Roe’s reversal but after the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft decision, Mariano said he was working with his members on a “big package” to address several issues related to reproductive health care and access to abortion.
“(The) opinion overturning Roe v. Wade is outrageous but not unexpected,”
Mariano said Friday. “The House is reviewing (the) opinion closely to determine how best to navigate this post-Roe legal landscape.”
Senate President Karen Spilka, for her part, on Friday pointed to the state budget, where “the Senate included language protecting access to reproductive health care.”
Spilka credited Gov. Charlie Baker who on Friday, “issued an Executive Order which aligns very closely with this language.”
Baker’s order prohibits state employees from complying with out-of-state requests regarding a woman’s reproductive health or the release of information about providers of such services. It also blocks compliance with extradition requests from state’s that would prosecute women for traveling to Massachusetts to receive an abortion, or medical professionals for providing them.
Several states have laws or are in the process of approving them to criminalize travel out of state for abortions and would potentially criminalize the activity which occurred out of state, the administration said in a release.
“This executive order will further preserve that right and protect reproductive health care providers who serve out-of-state residents. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, it is especially important to ensure that Massachusetts providers can continue to provide reproductive health care services without concern that the laws of other states may be used to interfere with those services or sanction them for providing services that are lawful in the Commonwealth,” Baker said.
Baker, Spilka and Mariano will meet today for a weekly leadership meeting and customarily speak with the media after.