Announcement at Massachusetts State House marks a milestone in the effort to suspend and repeal Chapter 188, with voter education efforts continuing toward 2028.
At Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s Truth About Choice memorial at the State House, the Compassionate Care Coalition announced today that its statewide referendum campaign to suspend and repeal Massachusetts’ late-term abortion law has collected 97,276 certified signatures, surpassing the 49,716 required to suspend the law. Final certification by the Secretary of the Commonwealth remains pending.
The announcement took place at the memorial, which represents the 49,450 babies who lost their lives to abortion in Massachusetts in 2024. Speakers shared personal stories of hardship during pregnancy and the support that helped them choose life for their children.
MCFL applauds the hundreds of volunteers whose efforts over the past four weeks helped make the signature drive successful.
“When it seems impossible to reach and serve vulnerable, hurting women, remember that truth paves the road of possibility,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life and vice chair of the Compassionate Care Coalition. “If you ever think you’re powerless when it comes to protecting the unborn, think again.”
The petition seeks to repeal Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2026, House Bill 5595, "An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care," was signed by Governor Maura Healey on August 10, 2026. The new law allows elective abortion up to birth on healthy women and healthy, viable infants. It also removes the longstanding safeguard requiring women to undergo complex, potentially dangerous, late-term abortions in hospitals. Under the new law, the Department of Public Health will no longer be required to report late-term abortion data, even though expensive abortions after 24 weeks rose from 41 in 2022 to 84 in 2023 and 99 in 2024. Massachusetts taxpayers fund abortions through the state's Medicaid program.
MCFL joined the Compassionate Care Coalition, which also includes Massachusetts Family Action, Massachusetts Family Institute, Democrats for Life of America, and Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance, to launch the citizen-led veto referendum. The process allows voters to challenge a newly enacted law through a statewide vote.
The effort received support from the state’s four Roman Catholic bishops, parishes that hosted signature-gathering events, and Protestant churches across the Commonwealth.
Coalition volunteers stepped forward because they believe viable unborn children deserve legal protection and women facing difficult pregnancies deserve compassionate support and life-affirming alternatives, not pressure to endure the violence and emotional scar of abortion.
“Coalition team members and volunteers didn’t set out to ‘retaliate’ or demonstrate their distaste for certain elected officials,” Flynn said. “They stepped in to help because they know right from wrong.”
“The people of Massachusetts did not ask for abortion through all nine months, and in a matter of weeks they made that clear,” said Sam Miele, chairman of the Compassionate Care Coalition and director of Massachusetts Family Action. “We are grateful to every volunteer, pastor and parish staffer who carried a clipboard. Because of them, voters will have the final say.”
MCFL urges Governor Healey not to attach an emergency preamble to Chapter 188, which could prevent the law’s suspension while the referendum proceeds.
With the signature drive reaching this milestone, the coalition’s focus now turns to educating voters ahead of the November 2028 election, when the repeal question is expected to go before Massachusetts voters.
MCFL will publish referendum developments, voter education resources, and opportunities to get involved at masscitizensforlife.org/referendum. More information about the coalition’s campaign is available at Repeal188.com.