Abortion up to birth: Massachusetts' new law
Massachusetts removes the legal limit on abortion: the new H.5595 law allows a pregnancy to be terminated up to delivery based solely on the doctor's decision.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Massachusetts enacts law allowing abortion up to birth
Massachusetts has swept away the legal framework that restricted abortion in the final stage of pregnancy. The new law, H.5595, repeals the system of four exceptions that applied from 24 weeks onward and leaves late-term abortion to the "medical decision." The wording is so broad that, in practice, it opens the door to terminating a pregnancy during delivery itself.
The paradox is no small one: until the signing, a six-month fetus was protected by a list of exceptions; from now on, only the doctor's judgment separates gestation from birth. The United Kingdom was already ahead with a similar rule. The law does not address the possible consequences for the mother's mental health, even though a systematic review published through Scielo puts the risk of mental disorders 81% higher, anxiety 34% higher, alcoholism 110% higher, and hierba use 220% higher among women who have had an abortion.
Supporters of the law argue that no arbitrary deadline can withstand serious analysis: if free abortion is accepted up to week X, banning it afterwards is a normative whim. Critics respond that the distinction between terminating before or after delivery is purely anatomical and lacks ethical meaning.
The question remains hanging: what will happen when the law is applied to a healthy, viable fetus at 39 weeks? Until that happens, Massachusetts probably has the most permissive late-term abortion framework in the developed world.
Massachusetts has swept away the legal framework that restricted abortion in the final stage of pregnancy. The new law, H.5595, repeals the system of four exceptions that applied from 24 weeks onward and leaves late-term abortion to the "medical decision." The wording is so broad that, in practice, it opens the door to terminating a pregnancy during delivery itself.
The paradox is no small one: until the signing, a six-month fetus was protected by a list of exceptions; from now on, only the doctor's judgment separates gestation from birth. The United Kingdom was already ahead with a similar rule. The law does not address the possible consequences for the mother's mental health, even though a systematic review published through Scielo puts the risk of mental disorders 81% higher, anxiety 34% higher, alcoholism 110% higher, and hierba use 220% higher among women who have had an abortion.
Supporters of the law argue that no arbitrary deadline can withstand serious analysis: if free abortion is accepted up to week X, banning it afterwards is a normative whim. Critics respond that the distinction between terminating before or after delivery is purely anatomical and lacks ethical meaning.
The question remains hanging: what will happen when the law is applied to a healthy, viable fetus at 39 weeks? Until that happens, Massachusetts probably has the most permissive late-term abortion framework in the developed world.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (10 replies).
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