The Healey administration announced a series of emergency measures Wednesday to shore up access to reproductive health care, as it moved to protect nurses who assist or provide such services.
The move by the state Department of Public Health’s Board of Registration in Nursing comes less than two weeks before a transfer of power at the White House and amid ongoing fears that the new Trump administration could still move to restrict access to abortion.
The state oversight panel voted unanimously on Wednesday to turn language in the state’s Shield Law into state regulations, the administration said in a statement.
- Read More: Mass. Gov. Healey: Supreme Court abortion ruling leaves pregnant women ‘in limbo’
The law, adopted in 2022 under former Gov. Charlie Baker, provides protections against out-of-state investigations and prosecutions, professional discipline, and civil liability for health care providers, according to an analysis by UCLA’s Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy.
The language adopted Wednesday protects nurses “from disqualification from licensure and from board discipline for providing, or assisting in providing, reproductive health care services in Massachusetts,” the administration said.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the action builds on abortion access protections the state adopted after the U.S. Supreme Court toppled Roe v. Wade in 2022, effectively returning the debate over abortion access to state capitols nationwide.
“Today, with attacks on reproductive health care and providers escalating across the country, we’re proud to take action to further strengthen those protections,” Healey said in a statement.
“In Massachusetts, we’re always going to protect people’s rights and freedoms, and we’re going to make sure that everyone can access the high-quality health care they need,” the Democratic governor said.
- Read More: Gov. Healey issues order protecting emergency abortion care in Mass.
On the campaign trail last year, Trump, a Republican, said he would veto a federal abortion ban if one reached his desk. Trump praised the high court’s ruling, arguing that it should be left to states to regulate access to abortion.
Reproductive rights advocates, and their Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, however, have remained skeptical that Trump will keep his word.
They have argued that his veto vow may be a way-station on the road to a nationwide ban.
They have pointed to Project 2025, the conservative governing document crafted by Trump aides and allies that would “obliterate sexual and reproductive health and rights,” according to an analysis by the Guttmacher Institute.
Nurses, who are often the frontline providers of such care, should not have to fear “doing the right thing,” state Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein said, adding that the agency “will continue to work in solidarity with providers across the state, dismantling barriers to critical, life-saving health care and services, and protecting those who courageously deliver this vital care.”
- Read More: Mass. Gov. Healey fires back at Trump over abortion comments
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll offered a similar sentiment, observing that “Our nurses and other providers should not fear discipline or legal action for providing essential health care.”
Wednesday’s action by the state oversight board will “will further ensure that Massachusetts remains a place that everyone can access comprehensive reproductive health care services, including abortion care,” Driscoll said.
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