The Massachusetts State House on Monday voted to overturn the governor’s veto on legislation that would expand access to abortion services in the state and codify access to abortion into state law.
WBUR reported that the bill will now go to the state Senate, which is also expected to overturn Charlie Baker’s (R) Christmas Eve veto.
The bill would reduce the age at which people can have an abortion from 18 to 16 and allow the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy in some cases.
Baker’s veto came after the legislature rejected his request to retain the age limit for obtaining the procedure without parental or judicial consent.
The state House voted 107-46 to overturn the governor’s veto on Monday, according to WBUR, barely clearing the two-thirds margin needed to do so.
State Democratic Party President Gus Bickford celebrated the results in a statement to the news station, accusing Baker of aligning himself with the far right of his own party.
“Hoping we would all be too busy to realize it, Charlie Baker once again escaped the far right of his Republican party by vetoing critical access to abortion provisions that would put our laws online. with neighboring states like Maine, New York and Connecticut, ”Bickford said. “Charlie Baker chooses to side with right-wing extremists, rather than doctors, women and the vast majority of Massachusetts voters.”
GOP state president Jim Lyons told WBUR that Baker’s decision “should send a message to lawmakers that this legislation has no place in a human society.”
Democrats have worried about the future of abortion rights in the US in the weeks following the successful confirmation of the Supreme Court judge Amy Coney Barrett
Amy Coney BarrettDeath is a Georgia pastor who gives positive to COVID-19 Chris Christie posts a video to people who refuse to wear a mask: “Learn from my experience” MORE, who are concerned about left-wing activists, will try to overturn the abortion rights case, Roe v. Wade, as part of his tenure in the nation’s highest court.
These fears first materialized during Barrett’s confirmation hearings, in which the then nominee said she did not see Roe v. Wade as a definitively resolved issue.
At the same time, it was revealed that Barrett had signed an announcement calling on the University of Notre Dame to reaffirm its opposition to abortion and “renew our call for the unborn to be protected by law and taken into life.” .
—Updated at 10:15 p.m.