Dr. Christina Francis, a board-certified OB-GYN and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is warning that Massachusetts’ new abortion law puts women at greater medical risk by removing the state’s previous 24-week abortion limit.
Francis said doctors can treat serious pregnancy complications after 24 weeks by delivering the child rather than performing an abortion. She said delivery can also be more expedient than a later-in-pregnancy abortion procedure.
“If a woman’s life is in danger, if she’s facing a pregnancy complication beyond 24 weeks, we simply deliver her,” Francis said.
Francis also warned that later abortions can pose significant risks to mothers.
“There’s nothing in this law that says that at 39 weeks and five days, a woman could not have an abortion,” she said. “These procedures are risky for the mom. They lead to significant risk of complications.”
The Massachusetts law, signed August 10 by Gov. Maura Healey, removes the state’s previous 24-week gestational limit and allows abortions at any stage of pregnancy based on the “professional judgment of the physician.”
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