The Massachusetts House of Representatives has voted to override the governor’s veto of the abortion bill, making it likely the bill will become law.
The House voted 107-46 on Monday, December 28 for the measure. The tally was announced at 12:56 p.m. Monday.
The veto override vote took place four days after Governor Charlie Baker vetoed the bill on Thursday, December 24.
The bill would allow 16-year-old and 17-year-old girls to get an abortion without the consent of a parent or a judge and would remove language in current state law requiring that a doctor try to save the life of a baby born alive after an attempted abortion.
It would also explicitly add a circumstance to abortions allowed after 24 weeks of pregnancy – cases where a fetus has been diagnosed with a fatal condition expected to cause death not long after birth.
The Massachusetts Senate, which has already voted in favor of the bill by a larger percentage than the House, is expected to override the governor’s veto, perhaps as early as Tuesday, December 29.
If that happens, then the only long-term recourse for opponents of the bill is to try to take a ballot question to the voters in November 2022.
The legislation is Massachusetts House Bill 5179, titled “An Act Providing For Access To Reproductive Health Services.”
