Wes Cipolla Pilot Staff Local Friday 1st of August 2025
BRAINTREE — The Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s four Catholic dioceses, is making known its opposition to two bills that would expand abortion access.
The State House is currently debating legislation that would make it easier for women to have abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, when most fetuses are considered viable, if “the professional judgement of a physician” deems it medically necessary. Currently, abortion that late in pregnancy is only done when the health of the mother or fetus is at grave risk.
“This legislation would completely eliminate” those guardrails, said Marianne Luthin, director of Project Rachel, a ministry in the Archdiocese of Boston that hosts retreats for women who regret having an abortion. “That’s a very deep concern,” she added.
She believes that the current legislative debates are “an opportunity for members of the church to have a conversation with the broader community, especially the medical community.”
Due to improving medical technology, fetuses are now viable earlier and earlier in pregnancy. Luthin cited the story of Nash Keen, an Iowa baby who became the most premature birth on record when he was born after only 21 weeks of pregnancy. He recently celebrated his first birthday.
“This is not a political debate,” Luthin said, adding: “This is a question of life at its most vulnerable and fragile stages, and what we do to protect that life.
Another piece of legislation would allow girls younger than 16 to get an abortion without the need for parental or judicial consent. A 2020 law already lowered the consent requirement from 18 to 16.
“We do understand, in this case, that there are cases where the abortion may have precipitated from within the family, or that the young woman was impregnated by someone in the family,” said Father Bryan Hehir, the Archdiocese of Boston’s secretary for health and social services.
He said the “fallback” for parental consent was judicial consent. Under current law, a social worker can recommend for a judge to give consent for a girl under 16 to have an abortion, if the parents are deemed unfit.
“It would allow a 14-year-old girl to consent to an abortion and no one would have to know about it,” said Frances X. Hogan, a Boston-based lawyer and founding president of Women Affirming Life who testified against the bills on the MCC’s behalf.
“With human trafficking the way it is now, that is a serious concern,” she added. Hogan spoke to Beacon Hill lawmakers via Zoom on July 10.
“The Catholic Church is always going to be present when the purposeful taking of human life is involved, and that’s basically why we were there,” she said. She said that the 24-weeks law “would allow abortion on demand for all nine months” and argued that “the modest restrictions in place” already protect mothers’ health. She also lent the MCC’s support behind a bill which would require babies born alive after a botched abortion to receive life support.
“It’s hard to believe anyone would oppose it,” she said of that bill
She said the overwhelming majority of testimony was in favor of the pro-abortion legislation, but that didn’t surprise her.
“I’ve been fighting this battle since 1973,” she said, adding: “Whether we’re successful or not, we have to be there. We have to be at the table.” Hogan said that one need not be religious to oppose the bills. “All life should be respected,” she said,
If the legislation passes despite the MCC’s opposition, Hogan won’t be shocked.
“We encourage all people to call their legislators and ask them to vote the way we are seeking,” she said.
Father Hehir, who is overseeing the MCC as its Executive Director James Driscoll is on sabbatical, acknowledged that Massachusetts abortion law “takes a very different position” than the church.
“It’s a sad reality for us, but we believe that the church, because of its teaching, must teach in season and out of season. Even if its position is not the law of the land, he said, the church must still remind society, and the Catholics within it, how it feels on issues of human dignity.
“All of those we possess as our heritage as Catholics, and so we feel obligated to state what we believe,” he said.
He explained that while the church views human life as sacred from conception until natural death, it tries to “translate” its religious arguments so that those who do not share the faith can understand.
“To protect human life, we have, as a society and as a civilization, have articulated a framework of rights and duties about protecting human life and describing under what terms a society has inherited obligations to protect human life,” he said.