Governor Maura Healey has signed a law that enshrines protections for gender-affirming care and abortion in the state of Massachusetts. The new law dubbed “Shield 2.0” will strengthen protections surrounding reproductive rights and gender-affirming for health care providers and their patients.
The law will also protect sensitive data, including doctor or patient names from being disclosed in cases of reproductive and gender-affirming care, and prohibits Massachusetts-based authorities from working with federal and out-of-state health care investigations. It also protects abortions that are medically necessary in emergency cases.
In addition, the law directs the Department of Public Health to create a technical advisory group to support businesses that are implementing privacy protections for storing or managing electronic medical records related to reproductive and gender-affirming care.
Currently in MA, abortions are legal up to 24 weeks, and after 24 weeks if medically necessary or endangering the pregnant person’s life, according to Planned Parenthood.
In a press release from Healey and Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, Healey states: “Massachusetts will always be a state where patients can access high-quality health care and providers are able to do their jobs without government interference.”
“From the moment Roe was overturned, we stepped up to pass strong protections for patients and providers, and with President Trump and his allies continuing their assaults on health care, we’re taking those protections to the next level. No one is going to prevent the people of Massachusetts from getting the health care they need.”
Gov. Healey has taken various steps to defend basic rights like reproductive freedom. Already this year, she awarded $1.8 million in financial assistance to individuals seeking abortion care and has made over-the-counter birth control and prenatal vitamins free for half a million patients. Healey, along with Speaker Ron Mariano and MA Senate President Karen Spilka, donated $2 million to Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts after Trump’s Medicaid cuts defunded some services as clinics. In 2023, Healey directed healthcare providers and the University of Massachusetts to stockpile mifepristone, an abortion medication.
