Abortion rights
News and features on the legal and cultural fight over abortion in the United States.
Mass. reports dramatic abortion rise in 2024, driven by pills shipped out of state
The number of abortions provided by doctors and nurse practitioners in Massachusetts doubled in 2024, according to the latest numbers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
More Mass. clinics caught in Trump administration effort to defund Planned Parenthood
Trump administration efforts to defund Planned Parenthood will also cut Medicaid payments to a network of clinics that serve low-income patients in southeastern Mass. Health Imperatives, a nonprofit provider of...
In Mass., volunteers pack thousands of abortion pills destined for states with bans
Huddled around a small conference table in Greater Boston, volunteers form an ad hoc assembly line to slip hundreds of pills into padded envelopes. It's not an illegal drug operation,...
Abortions were up 37% in Mass. last year, driven by patients from other states
Massachusetts saw a substantial increase in abortions in 2023, the first full year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Most of the change can be explained by...
Study: More patients traveled to Mass. for abortions after Supreme Court Dobbs ruling
Massachusetts has seen a small but significant increase in people traveling to the state for an abortion since the Supreme Court allowed states to limit access to or ban the...
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How the Dobbs abortion decision is playing out in Massachusetts, one year later
Massachusetts has not experienced much of the political turmoil triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which ended the constitutional right to an abortion. But the state is feeling...
Abortion-rights opponents don’t understand that death — like life — is sacred
All pregnancy is rife with the specter of death, although we prefer not to think about it, writes Anita Hannig. We have sacrificed an entire generation on the altar of...
The next battle over abortion is very local
People in Massachusetts should care about what's happening in Hobbs, New Mexico. Lieutenant Governor-elect Kim Driscoll and Rebecca Hart Holder explain how the fight for abortion rights is hyper local.
As N.H. Republicans ready for primary, Democrats work to push abortion rights to center of campaign
This push comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which struck down a constitutional right to abortion. It also coincides with historic political tension...
As college students return to Massachusetts campuses, they'll find new abortion care options
A new state law ensures public college and university students in Massachusetts have access to medication abortion through the school's own health services, like on campus at UMass Amherst.
How the fall of Roe could change abortion care in Mass.
The abortion bans have the potential to subject Massachusetts physicians who care for patients from states where abortion is illegal to criminal prosecution, civil suits and public scrutiny, write four...
Reps. Clark, Pressley arrested outside Supreme Court at protest over abortion rights
Massachusetts U.S. Reps. Katherine Clark, Ayanna Pressley and over a dozen other House Democrats were arrested Tuesday for blocking traffic at a protest outside the Supreme Court criticizing the ruling...
Mass. insurers will cover abortion travel costs for members
Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim, and Blue Cross are promising to cover travel and lodging costs for members who live in states where abortion is restricted.
Advocates urge crowd funding, not couch surfing, to help people traveling for an abortion
Informal offers to host people seeking abortions have sprung up on social media since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but so have stern warnings not to accept —...
Choosing abortion wasn't about safety or survival
For me, abortion was about choosing a path that I wanted over a path that I didn’t, writes Sarah Nager.
'My girls are part of that hope': Why I talk to my daughters about hard things
Hard conversations, like advocacy, must be ongoing, writes Anri Wheeler.
When abortion is 'an unimaginable act of surrender'
Banning abortion will create tremendous suffering for some who face pregnancy complications — all traumatic in themselves, but even more so without the guarantee of timely deliverance, writes Anita Hannig.
Gov. Mills: Maine won't help prosecute abortion seekers, providers
Mills signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from cooperating in another state's investigation into people, groups or health care providers over abortions or other reproductive health care that was...
I'm a high-risk OB-GYN: Abortion helps me save lives
This is a skill I never enjoy using. But as a high-risk obstetrician, it is absolutely the thing I do that has saved the most lives, writes Dr. Erika Werner.
We need more men to fight for abortion rights
People with uteruses shouldn’t be the only ones charged with baring their souls and making themselves vulnerable, writes Laura Tamman. More men need to share their abortion stories.