When it comes to health care access, I used to think of Massachusetts as progressive. We pioneered health care reform in 2006, are home to some of the nation’s top health care and public health organizations, and pride ourselves on our commonwealth’s work on health equity. Yet we remain embarrassingly behind when it comes to abortion access.
Medically unnecessary restrictions here in Massachusetts force young people to go to court or leave the state for access to care. That burden disproportionately harms young people of color — the result of the racist policy that created barriers to care. That’s why the ROE Act, proactive legislation to improve access to care and remove these barriers, must pass before July 31.
On June 29, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a medically unnecessary, politically motivated abortion restriction in Louisiana. I used to think that I didn’t need to worry about things like that in my state and if I needed an abortion, I would be able to get one. Now I know that’s not always true. If you’re like I was and think our access is safe here — know that far too many people in Massachusetts already don’t have access to abortion because state law still enforces unjust, racist restrictions to abortion.
So while abortion may be safe and legal here, it’s not fully accessible — and it never has been. Abortion is health care and until abortion is truly accessible to all, I can’t consider our state to be progressive when it comes to health care access.
Sophie Howard
Turners Falls