The Massachusetts House of Representatives resoundingly passed a bill to provide critical protections for life-saving healthcare for transgender people and access to reproductive healthcare.

The bill says plainly: “Access to reproductive health care services and gender-affirming health care services is recognized and declared to be a right secured by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth.” It protects both providers and patients – of abortion care and established medical care for transgender people – from out-of-state legal action.

With the Supreme Court opening the door for states to ban abortion and states passing bills criminalizing parents and doctors for providing established, best-practice medical care for transgender youth, this bill provides critical protections for people seeking care.

GLAD partnered with Reproductive Equity Now, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and legislative leaders in the work to find paths to protect providers and strengthen access to gender-affirming care and abortion care in Massachusetts.

We are grateful to the committed leaders in the Massachusetts legislature who are taking this bold and essential action to protect our basic healthcare for transgender people, women, and everyone who needs access to abortion.