Standing Up for Women’s Reproductive Rights

As you know by now, the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, a legal precedent that protected a woman’s right to privacy and abortion access for nearly 50 years. 

The decision isn't surprising. We've known for weeks now that the Court was likely going to do this. But it doesn't make me any less angry. In the days and weeks ahead, we will see total bans on abortion in more than two dozen states. This is, quite simply, a horrific and dark moment in our nation's history. 

This is personal for me. I served as an intern at Planned Parenthood during graduate school. I sat on the board of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus for years. I will fight with everything I’ve got for the right to safe, accessible abortions and reproductive health services for all women.

Yes, this development is absolutely terrifying and enraging. But we can not give up hope and we have to take action – together. 

As your State Representative, I will work to:

• Make Massachusetts a safe harbor for others while protecting our in-state providers and privacy. In 2020, Massachusetts passed the Roe Act that codified various reproductive protections into law, such as allowing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in cases with a fatal fetal anomaly and lowering the age at which individuals can seek an abortion without the consent of a parent or a judge from 18 to 16. The Roe Act was a good and necessary legal and policy development, but it is not enough. We must expand protections to those from other states seeking access to reproductive care services. This includes protecting our own in-state providers as well as non-Massachusetts patients from out-of-state investigations, and preventing the forced disclosure of out-of-state patient’s medical records. It also includes strengthening our state’s privacy laws to ban techniques such as keyword search engine warrants or geofence warrants that enable the digital tracking of people who seek information about abortion or abortion providers. Connecticut, California, and New York are already beginning to take action, and we must do the same in order to stay a national leader in the fight to protect women’s reproductive freedoms. 

• Get the funding we need to increase access, infrastructure, and security. I will always work to ensure that our promises to protect women’s rights are fully funded. Fortunately, the state Senate recently proposed $2 million to expand access to abortion services in its budget. This funding would take the form of grants to providers  – the Jane Fund of Central Massachusetts, the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts and the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund – to improve access, infrastructure, and security. Additionally, we must increase MassHealth reimbursement rates for family planning and abortion care services, so that providers are properly compensated and can continue to offer such critical care. We can’t ever take our eyes off the ball – laws are often only as good as the resources allocated to implement them.

• Reduce existing cost barriers to prenatal and abortion care. Due to the frequency of high-deductible insurance plans, many people face high costs when seeking the full spectrum of pregnancy care. As such, I would support legislation such as An Act Ensuring Access to Full Spectrum Pregnancy Care (H1196, S673) that would “require health insurance plans to cover all pregnancy care–including abortion care, miscarriage management, prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care–without any kind of cost-sharing.” This problem is particularly salient for black women in Massachusetts, who are nearly twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. 

• Serve as a helpful guide for resources and information. I will make my office a point of contact, to the extent allowed by law, where constituents can get helpful information and resources on how to get reproductive health care that they need. I will hold town halls and constituent office hours that enable constituents to ask questions and receive support. I strongly believe that a state rep should be a resource for the community on the issues that matter most. If elected, I will do just that.