Massachusetts removes 24-week gestational limit, replacing it with physician-judgment standard for late-term abortions

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a law that replaces the state's existing 24-week abortion limit — which had included specific exceptions — with a physician-judgment standard. The prior law required enumerated exceptions for abortions after 24 weeks; the new statutory language reads, according to the Washington Examiner, "If a pregnancy has existed for 24 weeks or more, an abortion may be performed by a physician based upon the professional judgment of the physician."

The Washington Examiner's coverage, written by Tom Olohan, a communications strategist at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, characterized the law as legalizing abortion "through birth" and described it as among the most permissive abortion statutes in the world. Olohan's piece noted that Healey's official signing statement ran 14 paragraphs and quoted eight state Democrats without directly referencing the gestational standard or the removal of the 24-week hard limit.

The same piece criticized other media outlets for their language choices, arguing that outlets including the Boston Globe, Axios, NBC Boston, and USA Today framed the story around "abortion access" rather than the details of what gestational restrictions were removed. The Boston Globe's headline — "New law reshapes rules in Massachusetts for abortion at 24 weeks or after" — was cited as an example of what Olohan described as minimizing language. Fox News, by contrast, ran a headline describing the bill as "allowing abortions up to birth."