Maura Healey signs Massachusetts law allowing abortion with no gestational limit

Massachusetts enacts law decriminalizing abortion up to birth

A signature in Massachusetts has once again redrawn the American political map. Governor Maura Healey has signed into law a bill that removes the gestational limit on abortion, to the applause of Democrats. The legislation, presented as a step forward for reproductive health, puts the state at the head of a list that keeps growing.

The debate has become entrenched around one point: the 26-week mark. Some argue there is no clear difference between aborting just before or just after that boundary; at the opposite extreme, the harshest opposition resorts to apocalyptic language, with accusations of "satanism" and "human sacrifice." Between the two poles, the tone has drifted away from medicine and plunged headlong into metaphor.

One comparison has even come from the rural world: that of the sick animal put down to spare it suffering. An analogy as provocative as it is old, and one that does nothing to defuse the tension. Nor does the sarcasm of those who suggest extending the age limit for abortion even further to include the critics themselves.

Beyond the hyperbole, the law is now a done deal. Its supporters present it as a protection of women's autonomy; its detractors, as a red line that should never have been crossed. The curious thing is that the middle ground has been left empty: between 26 weeks and birth, the boundary blurs, and yet the debate has frozen into two trenches that refuse to listen to each other. The Democrats have won this legislative battle. Polarization, it seems, shows no signs of expiring.