Senate Democrats announced a bill Monday morning intended to protect Massachusetts’ reproduction and transgender care from out-of-state threats, saying it was part of their response efforts to the Trump administration.
The bill aims to protect health professionals and lawyers who represent those seeking reproductive or gender care by restricting state agencies from providing cooperation or information in federal or out-of-state investigations.
Senator Cindy Friedman of Arlington I submitted a bill last week. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Operations and Policy, Friedman, along with a Republican-led Congress, leads the Senate’s response to the measures he took office in the first few months. The Senate is called the “Response 2025” effort.
“In Massachusetts, we won’t discriminate against you based on the type of health care you need, and this bill is based on our actions in 2022 and will further strengthen protections for trans people and those who have the ability to get pregnant,” Sen. Karen Spilka said in a statement.
In a press release, Spielka and Friedman said the bill that the Senate mentioned for review to the Healthcare Finance Committee on Monday was designed to “protect, defend and guide Massachusetts through opposing threats from the federal government.”
Massachusetts is Roev at the federal level. In anticipation of the threat to Wade, abortion was protected by law in 2020. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned abortion precedent in 2022.
In response to that ruling, Congress and Gov. Charlie Baker agreed to the 2022 law to protect Massachusetts people from out-of-state civil or criminal investigations, litigation, legally protected health care and other prosecutions.
“We did the first version of this in 2022, so we’re seeing this unfold at the federal level, so let’s check the law and make sure there are protections and no loopholes,” Friedman told the news service.
This is the first bill her committee has submitted as part of “Response 2025.” Friedman said he targeted this for their first action, saying, “That’s what we did and we can start with a very solid base.”
The Senate Committee worked with Attorney General Andrea Campbell and the Department of Public Health’s Robbie Goldstein, working with supporters of ACLU, Planned Parenthood and GLBTQ legal advocates and advocates to create the law.
The bill makes it illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against nonprofit organizations that provide reproductive or gender identity care to Massachusetts people. It also requires businesses to protect patients’ electronic medical records and restrict out-of-state entities’ access to these records.
“Sharing data to the federal government and other entities could put patients and Massachusetts providers at risk, particularly those who access, prescribe or dispense drugs related to reproductive or gender-affirming care,” advocates of the bill said.
“Gender-maintaining care is legal care in Massachusetts,” Friedman said. “This is, “The federal government or other states can’t decide what legal healthcare is in Massachusetts. It appears to be focusing on the whole gender issue, because Massachusetts has determined that this is legal healthcare.” They love talking about gender-maintaining care and women’s reproductive health, but we can decide what kind of care is legal and can be delivered in Massachusetts. ”
Trump has issued an executive order that the government will only allow two genders, including documents like passports. The Prison Bureau reports the number of transgender individuals incarcerated and stops moving transgender women to men’s prisons. Move to prohibit trans people from serving the military. They are then trying to pull funds from institutions that provide gender identity care to trans youth. Many of these executive orders have been suspended by court orders.
The Friedman bill also seeks to protect access to emergency abortions by requiring patients and healthcare providers to provide this emergency procedure to hospitals approved in Massachusetts if necessary.
Friedman told the news service that this protects people with miscarriages, or if pregnancy is at risk.
“They can’t keep anyone away. They have to provide care that saves your life,” she said.
Supporters of the bill said the Trump administration “indicates that even in the event of life-threatening circumstances, hospitals may choose to refuse an emergency abortion.”
She added that closing these loopholes makes Massachusetts residents feel safe in seeking this care.
“We want to make sure that our federal people are safe and that they can get the care they need without fear of being harmed, targeted or sent to prison,” she said. “That’s outrageous, and I want to make sure that the people who provide or support those who want that care are also protected.”
