Senate passes reproductive and transgender care law
Photo | Courtesy of Chris Lisinski, State House News Service
Sen. Cindy Friedman (blue sweater) listens from the audience at a June 3 Judiciary Committee hearing about her reproductive and transgender care shield legislation.
Days after the third anniversary of the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade, the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday passed a new slate of fortifications for reproductive and transgender care as Democrats aim to fend off a flurry of potential health care threats unfolding across the country and from the Trump administration.
The Senate's 37-3 vote on the "Shield Act 2.0" also came hours after the Supreme Court dealt another blow to reproductive care access by ruling states can stunt funding to Planned Parenthood. Republican Sens. Kelly Dooner, Peter Durant and Ryan Fattman voted against the bill.
"Despite how saddened I am and frustrated I am that reproductive and gender-affirming care are once again under attack, I am extremely proud and lucky to live in a state that is willing and able to protect those rights, and even prouder to be able to sponsor and speak in favor of the bill that would accomplish this goal," Sen. Cindy Friedman, who's leading her branch's response to the Trump administration, said on the Senate floor.
"For this bill is fundamentally about protecting our state from those outside who wish to decide how we in Massachusetts choose to deliver health care and the values we decide should drive that care," Friedman continued. "And whether you agree with the specific services referred to in this bill, nobody outside Massachusetts should be able to decide what care we provide, regardless of the specific services being targeted."
Friedman, co-chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, shepherded Beacon Hill's original shield law in 2022. That legislation installed legal protections for providers and patients – including those traveling from states with abortion bans – delivering or receiving reproductive and gender-identity care here. Additional health care providers and attorneys would gain license protections under Thursday's Senate bill.
The Arlington Democrat said work on this session's expanded shield bill began in November and involved collaboration with Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office, the Department of Public Health, the ACLU of Massachusetts, Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Equity Now and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.
"What we're doing today ... is truly extraordinary given the headwinds that we are up against and what we are seeing, sadly, nationally," Sen. Julian Cyr said. "These headwinds have grown stronger. The stakes are sort of higher than they've perhaps ever been, and we're seeing more and more activity."
The bill would prohibit state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state and federal investigations into health care that is legally protected in Massachusetts. Courts could not admit or consider a finding of abuse, neglect or mistreatment against parents or guardians for allowing their child to seek transgender care.
Certain reproductive and gender-identity care medications would no longer be included in the Department of Public Health's Prescription Monitoring Program, and the labels for those drugs could list the name of the medical practice instead of the specific prescribing physician. Acute care hospitals also would have to provide emergency care to all patients, including those needing an emergency abortion or who are in active labor.
"This is not the end at all, and it is not the end all and be all of all the issues we are facing. But we will continue to watch what's happening at the federal level and in other states and respond to upcoming threats," Friedman said.
The state-level protections come as congressional Republicans advance a reconciliation bill that could reduce abortion care access across the country. One provision would block abortion coverage from federal ACA Marketplace plans, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark emphasized at a press conference held at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in Boston earlier this week.
The spending package would also defund Planned Parenthood, Clark said.
"This bill would tear $15 million from Planned Parenthood here in Massachusetts. That is half of Planned Parenthood's budget," Clark said. "It would defund cancer screenings and prenatal care, postpartum services, fertility treatment and preventative care. Ninety-six percent of Planned Parenthood's clinical work has nothing to do with abortion, and Republicans know that there have been no federal dollars in decades going to provide abortion services, but that hasn't stopped them from doing everything it needs to do to take away health care for millions of women."
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that South Carolina can block Medicaid dollars from flowing to Planned Parenthood, a decision that could allow other states to do the same, the AP reported. Last week, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee's ban on transgender care for minors.
One in three Planned Parenthood clinics could be forced to close should the reconciliation package pass, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.
"Here's the kicker: 90% of those potential closures would be in states where abortion is legal," Warren said at the PPLM press conference. "With so many fewer places available for abortion care, more women, even in states like Massachusetts where abortion is legal, will effectively be denied that care."
House Speaker Ron Mariano said Monday his branch could take up the expanded shield bill "as soon as next week or the week after." Asked Thursday about his interest in taking up the bill, Mariano reflected on the new Supreme Court ruling.
"The situation is changing as we speak. The Supreme Court came in with another decision about reproductive rights and Medicaid, so it's going to be harder and harder to wind your way through this process," Mariano told reporters. "And so as soon as we can get something from the Senate, go through it, see how we can be helpful and see where this whole Medicaid issue falls -- we just have to keep plugging away. We're in a very changing situation. You know, what we discuss today may be out the window by tomorrow."
Friedman said the Senate response to the Trump administration has a string of other items to tackle on its policy agenda, including data privacy, supporting veterans, and Medicaid cuts that could result in hundreds of thousands of Bay Staters losing coverage.
"Because of rulings by the reconciliation bill, we gotta figure out how we're going to handle that because those people are going to lose their insurance," Friedman told reporters after the shield bill passed. "And they're going to lose their insurance because the federal government is going to make it so hard for them to keep it -- not because they're ineligible necessarily, but because they can't meet all the requirements of reporting. And so what are we going to do as a state? So we're watching this very closely, and I think we're trying to be nimble."
Colin A. Young of State House News Service contributed reporting.
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