Robert W Malone, MD@RWMaloneMD · Aug 17, 2026

Massachusetts abortion law, after 24 weeks. Before: permitted when necessary to preserve the life or physical or…

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Summary

Massachusetts removed gestational limits on abortion after 24 weeks, replacing specific medical exceptions with broad physician discretion. The change passed with limited transparency and no data collection requirements, despite concerns that it eliminates the viability threshold without evidence that late-term abortions are primarily performed for catastrophic fetal abnormalities or maternal health threats.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

#1
Massachusetts abortion law, after 24 weeks. Before: permitted when necessary to preserve the life or physical or mental health of the mother, or for a lethal or grave fetal diagnosis incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus. After: "an abortion may be performed when based upon the professional judgment of the physician." The House vote was 119 to 33. 🧵
#2
Read that again. The legislature did not broaden the medical exception. It did not add a category for catastrophic fetal abnormality. It did not create an expedited process for physicians facing an emergency. It removed the conditions.
#3
And 24 weeks is not an arbitrary line. At 24 weeks a fetus may survive outside the womb. With each additional week, survival improves substantially. At the same gestational ages this law now permits, neonatal teams are fighting to keep premature infants alive.
#4
We are told these abortions are overwhelmingly tragic medical necessities. So we tried to answer one question. How many abortions after viability are performed because the mother's life is threatened, or because the fetus has a lethal abnormality? The government cannot tell us.
#5
CDC surveillance places everything from 21 weeks onward into a single bucket. 22 weeks or 32 weeks? Not reported. Why the abortion was performed? Not reported. The most recent data show 1.1 percent of abortions at 21 weeks or later. That number tells you almost nothing.
#6
The research that does exist is uncomfortable. Kimport, 2022, peer reviewed. Interviews with 28 women who obtained abortions between 24 and 35 weeks. Two pathways emerged. New information, sometimes a fetal diagnosis and sometimes late discovery of the pregnancy. And barriers: cost, finding a provider, stigma.
#7
Colorado shows what happens with no gestational limit. 137 abortions reported at 28 weeks or later in 2023. Clinics there advertise abortion well into the third trimester, and state plainly that no reason need be given. How many involved a healthy mother and a healthy fetus? Colorado does not report it.
#8
Nine states plus Washington, D.C. have no statutory gestational limit. Alaska. Colorado. Maryland. Michigan. Minnesota. New Jersey. New Mexico. Oregon. Vermont. Massachusetts now effectively joins them. Over 54 million Americans live under these laws.
#9
Here is what legislators should have answered before removing the boundary. If abortions after 24 weeks are overwhelmingly performed for catastrophic fetal abnormality or genuine threat to maternal health, collect the data and demonstrate it. If they are not, the public deserves to know that too.
#10
Instead the Senate passed it without a recorded roll call. And then the photographs. Politicians and advocates gathered around Governor Healey. Smiling. Applauding. Posing for the commemorative photograph. That is the part I cannot get past.
#11
People disagree about abortion. They disagree about bodily autonomy, fetal rights, and where the law should draw a line. But human development does not stop because the subject makes us uncomfortable. A civilized society can conclude that a terrible thing has happened. This one applauded. Full investigation: malone.news/p/late-term-pr…