Massachusetts pro-choice group calls on legislature to honor legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by passing ROE Act

A pro-choice group in Massachusetts is calling on the legislature to pass the ROE Act immediately, a move it says will honor the memory and legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Ginsburg, who dedicated her life to pursuing equality and justice, was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She died Friday evening at age 87 from complications of metastatic pancreas cancer.

“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a fearless champion for equality and justice, including reproductive freedom. Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t just fight for individual women, she fought to change the entire legal framework upon which gender-based discrimination rested. Her profound impact on our country is measured by her influence as a lawyer and a judge, and by the millions of people she inspired to fight to create a more just nation,” Rebecca Hart Holder, the Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, said in a statement.

With the ROE Act, which would expand access to abortion, pending in Massachusetts, Hart Holder said the Legislature must act now.

“Faced with such grave uncertainty about the future of the High Court, Massachusetts must lead. We must not only reaffirm the right to safe, legal abortion care, but also ensure that all Bay Staters have access to the reproductive health care they need free from politically-motivated obstacles grounded in stigma and shame," Hart Holder said. “After all, a right on paper is no right at all if you cannot exercise it. We are calling on the state legislature to honor the memory and legacy of Justice Ginsburg by passing the ROE Act immediately. The time for debate is over. Passing the ROE Act simply cannot wait any longer.”

The act would remove a requirement that a minor get parental consent or a judge’s approval before getting an abortion and would allow abortion after 24 weeks in the case of a fatal birth defect, expanding current law that only allows abortion after 24 weeks to protect the health or life of the mother, among other measures.

In the hours after Ginsburg’s death, many have started to question whether a new justice should be appointed ahead of the November election. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Friday night that any nominee from President Donald Trump will receive a vote on the floor from the U.S. Senate.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Twitter Saturday morning urged Trump and the Senate to wait, saying any nomination or confirmation of a new justice should come after the election.

Hart Holder reiterated that Americans should cast ballots before the next justice is confirmed.

“We are grieving, and we will be grieving, for months and years to come. Still, we must harness our grief and let it strengthen our resolve. If Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump get their way, they will nominate and confirm another radical anti-choice justice to the Supreme Court. We cannot let that happen," Hart Holder said. “As Bay Staters, we are committed to helping stop a vote on any nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court before Inauguration Day, and to work to help elect a pro-choice majority to the U.S. Senate on November 3rd. Our work does not end there, when there is so much left to be done on the state level to protect and expand reproductive freedom.”

The ROE Act is controversial among Massachusetts residents and politicians. Last year, Baker said he was concerned about provisions of the act. Baker generally has supported abortion rights, although the Republican governor has said that he opposes late-term abortion.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life is among those in opposition of the act. In a statement Saturday, the group noted that pro-choice supporters are concerned that the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The group noted that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned, abortions would still be permitted in Massachusetts.

“We are confident that whomever President Trump nominates as Justice Ginsburg’s replacement will share our life-affirming values and align them with our country’s founding documents; that he or she will believe, as we do, that human rights begin in the womb; and that states' rights should weigh heavily in matters such as the legality of and limits on abortion,” read the statement from Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

The group argued that the bill doesn’t solve anything, but rather endangers women and girls.

“For example, women had about 2,800 abortions at 20 hospitals around the state in 2018. Under this law, they’d seek less safe late-term procedures outside of what are arguably the best facilities in the world. Parents would still consent to a flu shot for their 12-year-old daughter but not an abortion,” the statement said.

“Proponents of this bill claim judicial review is too stressful. Our question: It’s too stressful for a girl to have a conversation with a judge, but having an abortion alone is not stressful? Proponents have failed to show data points proving any egregious injustices under the current system. They are, therefore, advancing legislation to fix something that isn’t broken. Perhaps most concerning though: if the ROE Act passes, infants born alive during failed abortions won’t receive legal protection; physicians won’t be liable for their deaths,” the statement continued.

In Massachusetts in 2018, there were 18,256 abortions, according to the Boston Globe, citing data from the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics.

Related Content:

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How Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death could reshape the presidential campaign

‘A justice for the ages’: Massachusetts politicians mourn the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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