Claiming that abortion is legal in the state of Massachusetts until birth is manipulative

A governor in the US state of Massachusetts has been accused of making misleading claims about abortion access after signing a law that removes certain legal restrictions on late-term abortions. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2022, less than 1.1% of all pregnancy terminations in the United States occurred after the 21st week of gestation. On August 12, a former leader of the Slovenian Democratic Youth, Janez Marinko, who is also a member of the board of the non-profit organization Nova smer, posted a video on TikTok and Instagram claiming that Governor Maura Healey had signed a law allowing abortions “up until birth.” This, he suggested, would make Massachusetts the tenth US state to allow such procedures. Governor Healey signed the law on August 10, which eliminates legally defined exceptions that previously allowed for abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy. Before this change, abortions after the 24th week were permitted only under specific conditions, including when the procedure was necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person, or in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities or severe diagnoses indicating the fetus could not survive outside the womb without extraordinary medical intervention. The new law replaces these legally defined exceptions with a standard that allows physicians to make professional medical judgments regarding the necessity of an abortion after the 24th week, based on established healthcare standards. In Massachusetts, abortions before the 24th week remain legal. The change to the law does not affect this existing provision. According to the Massachusetts government’s website, the amendment to the abortion law enables local physicians to rely on their professional medical judgment in providing care during later stages of pregnancy, consistent with accepted healthcare standards. The claim made by Janez Marinko and others on social media has been investigated by the independent American website Snopes, which verifies claims through the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Snopes found that while Massachusetts has removed legal exceptions for late-term abortions, this does not mean the state has introduced unlimited access to abortions “until birth” without medical oversight. It emphasized that the decision is not solely left to the pregnant individual. According to the Guttmacher Institute, an American research and advocacy nonprofit focused on sexual and reproductive health, Massachusetts is now the tenth US state without legal limits on abortion based on gestational age. Other states that do not impose such restrictions include Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont. Data from the institute also shows that in 13 US states, abortion is completely banned, while in 28 states, its availability is restricted based on the age of the fetus. In seven of these, abortions are prohibited after the 18th week of pregnancy, and in the remaining 21, after the 18th week. Janez Marinko and the non-profit organization Nova smer have been informed of our findings. We will publish their response once we receive it.