2023-2024 Massachusetts Legislative Session Agenda

Last session, the Massachusetts Legislature took historic action to respond to the fall of Roe v. Wade. Now, critically important work remains to protect and expand reproductive equity in the Commonwealth.

We have seen what happens when we mobilize and organize on the local level. Our organization has been successful in ensuring pro-choice majorities in the Massachusetts State House and State Senate, passing laws that protect and increase access to abortion, and most recently, passing an historic reproductive health care law to respond to the fall of Roe v. Wade and protect our providers. But there is still work to be done and we’re lending our voice to several issues this year that, collectively, broaden our lens of what it means to achieve true reproductive equity. 

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Massachusetts Legislative Priorities

  • An Act Ensuring Access to Full Spectrum Pregnancy Care (H.1137, S.646)

    Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa, Ruth Balser and Senator Cindy Friedman

    Last session, the Massachusetts Legislature took bold action to break down cost barriers to care by eliminating cost-sharing for abortion. However, people on high deductible plans still face exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for the full spectrum of pregnancy care. Now, we must go further and enact legislation that would require health insurance plans to cover all pregnancy care—including abortion, prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care—without any kind of cost-sharing. Any financial barrier to reproductive health care limits people’s ability to make personal decisions about their reproductive destiny. Pregnant people should be the ones to dictate their own reproductive health care—not deductibles or insurance plans.

    Read Reproductive Equity Now’s testimony HERE.

  • An Act Relative to Birthing Justice in the Commonwealth (S.1415)

    Senator Liz Miranda

    As over a dozen states have moved to ban or severely restrict abortion, we have seen the negative impact of abortion bans on the full spectrum of reproductive health care, especially for already-marginalized communities. Massachusetts has made significant strides to protect and expand access to abortion, and there is more work to be done to break down barriers to the full spectrum of reproductive health care that still exist for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. This bill introduces a framework to improve maternal health outcomes and advance recommendations from the Special Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health, including better integrating midwifery care into our maternal health care system to improve access to out-of-hospital birthing options and reducing financial and administrative barriers to the creation of free-standing birth centers.

    Read Reproductive Equity Now’s testimony HERE.

  • An Act Relative to Medicaid Coverage for Doula Services (H.1240, S.782)

    Representative Lindsay Sabadosa and Senator Liz Miranda

    This legislation would mandate MassHealth coverage of doula care. Doulas are trained professionals who provide physical, emotional, and educational support to birthing people not only during labor and delivery, but also before and after pregnancy. By empowering pregnant people to be their own advocate, doula care can help improve birthing experiences, breastfeeding, and maternal health outcomes. However, the cost of doula care without insurance coverage can put this critical care out of reach for low-income pregnant, birthing, and postpartum people, many of whom are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. This bill is an essential tool for the Commonwealth to reduce insurance barriers to care, help combat the maternal health crisis, and address racial inequities for birthing people.

    Read Reproductive Equity Now’s testimony HERE.

  • Common Start (H. 489, S.301)

    Representatives Ken Gordon, Adrian Madaro and Senators Jason Lewis , Su Moran

    Reproductive Equity Now is proud to work with the Common Start Coalition to establish a five-year pathway to a universal system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care for all Massachusetts families, starting at birth. Reproductive equity is not only the ability to decide if and when to have a family—it’s also about ensuring that when you decide to become a parent, you can raise a family in a safe and healthy environment without breaking the bank on child care. Massachusetts has the second highest child care costs in the country. These exorbitant early childhood care costs harm both parents and children.

    Read Reproductive Equity Now’s testimony HERE.

  • Location Shield Act (H.357, S.148)

    Senator Cindy Creem, Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian

    Every day, companies collect and sell sensitive personal location data from our cell phones, revealing where we work, live, seek medical care, and more. Anyone with a credit card can buy your location information from data brokers — including anti-abortion extremists, politicians in restricted states, and other far-right groups across the country. In a post-Roe America, our digital privacy is a serious reproductive equity issue. The Location Shield Act would prohibit the sale, lease, or trade of Massachusetts cell phone location data. By passing this bill, Massachusetts can stop this practice before it’s used to criminalize people seeking reproductive health care in our state.

    Ready Reproductive Equity Now’s testimony HERE.

Download a One-Pager on Our Priority Bills

Additional Reproductive Equity Now Supported Bills

 Legislation to Improve Maternal Health Outcomes

  • Representatives Kay Khan & Brandy Fluker Oakley and Senator Rebecca Rausch

    This legislation improves access to home births and birth centers by bringing Massachusetts state licensure of Certified Professional Midwives in line with national guidelines. CPMs are licensed in 37 other states, including in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

  • Senator Jo Comerford, Representative Manny Cruz

    This legislation instructs the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to update regulations regarding the licensure of birth centers, to bring them in line with American Association of Birth Center guidelines.

  • Senator Kay Khan and Representative Brendan Crighton

    This legislation requires reimbursement for nurse midwifery care at parity with physician rates for the same services rendered.

  • Senator Joan Lovely

    This legislation expands the Massachusetts Department of Public Health postpartum home visiting pilot program, currently federally funded, to make it permanent, available statewide, and covered by both MassHealth and private insurance. Home visiting programs help birthing people address a range of important health needs, including recovery from pregnancy-related complications, management of chronic health conditions and access to ongoing postpartum care, including family planning and mental health services.

  • Senator Jo Comerford, Representative Sean Garballey

    This legislation updates mandated reporting requirements to ensure providers are no longer required to file automatically for instances of prenatal substance exposure, regardless of whether the substance was prescribed to the pregnant individual for substance use treatment.

  • Senator Cindy Friedman, Representative Carole Fiola

    This legislation requires MassHealth to cover pediatrician screenings for postpartum depression for mothers of newborns during any office visit within 1 year postpartum.

  • Senator Joan Lovely, Representative Lindsay Sabadosa

    This legislation expands Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave to include Paid Pregnancy Loss Leave, to be used for instances of pregnancy loss, a failed assisted reproductive technology procedure, a failed adoption match, a failed surrogacy arrangement, or a diagnosis that impacts pregnancy or fertility by an employee or their spouse or domestic partner.

  • Senators Liz Miranda, Representative Pat Haddad

    This legislation authorizes local health agencies to establish and conduct their own fetal infant mortality reviews in their jurisdiction, including a system for examining individual cases of mortality, to provide community-specific information on birth disparities, in coordination with DPH.

  • Senators Julian Cyr and Bruce Tarr, Representatives Sarah Peake and Hannah Kane

    This legislation updates Massachusetts' outdated parentage law so that it is clear, equitable, and provides legal protections for all families, including LGBTQ+ families.

  • Senators Sal DiDomenico, Representative Marjorie Decker

    This bill sets a floor for cash assistance benefits at 50% of the federal poverty level, improving basic financial security for low-income families with children.

 Legislation to Support Massachusetts Families

 Legislation to Expand Access to Care

  • Senator Sally Kerans, Representative Rebecca Rausch

    This bill expands equitable access to abortion care in several ways including improving youth access, expanding access to abortion later in pregnancy, prohibiting targeted restrictions of abortion and abortion providers, and ensuring safe access to diagnostic care.

  • Senators Jason Lewis and Julian Cyr

    This legislation authorizes pharmacists to prescribe PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a safe, daily medication which can prevent contraction of HIV.

  • Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Christine Barber

    This legislation authorizes pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception, including pills, patches, and rings.

  • Senators Liz Miranda, Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Natalie Higgins

    This legislation protects against forced female sterilization, ensures Medicaid coverage for voluntary female sterilization, even when the patient has not met the federal 30-day waiting period, provided that they complete decision counseling regarding the sterilization and sign their written consent.

 Legislation to Protect Massachusetts Patients & Consumers

  • Senator Cindy Creem, Representative Ruth Balser

    This legislation increases transparency around which health plans are subject to state-mandated benefits, including the Contraceptive ACCESS Law, by requiring plans to note on member insurance cards whether members are enrolled in a fully-insured health plan.

 Legislation to Ensure Reproductive Health Care Access for Justice-Involved People

  • Senator Kay Khan, Representative Rebecca Rausch

    This legislation will require health education to be offered to incarcerated women in a variety of ways. First, by requiring the creation and distribution of written information on women’s health, contraception, and STIs to all women entering correctional facilities. Second, by providing curricula on health education and other health-related topics, to be offered on a monthly basis. And lastly, by offering optional contraception counseling, a gynecological exam, and referral to an external primary care physician prior to the date of release.

  • Senator Kay Khan, Representative Priscila Sousa

    Postpartum healthcare is critical to keeping birthing people safe and healthy. This bill ensures that incarcerated women in the post-delivery period remain in the hospital until a physician certifies that they may be safely discharged and transferred back to the correctional facility. This bill also ensures that the mother and infant have had enough time to bond in the hours immediately after birth, if the mother so chooses, as certified by the infant’s pediatrician.

  • Senator Kay Khan, Representatives Priscila S. Sousa and Rebecca Rausch

    This legislation updates the original Anti-Shackling Law for pregnant incarcerated women to ensure compliance by requiring annual staff training, defining postpartum recovery as minimum of 6 weeks, authorizing medical personnel to determine that a woman is in labor, protecting patients in their care from restraint, and ensuring that instances of shackling are reported to the legislature and EOPSS.

  • Senator Kay Khan, Representative Jay Livingstone

    This legislation requires access to contraceptive services, counseling, and abortion care for incarcerated individuals.

  • Representative Jay Livingstone

    This bill prohibits correctional facilities from charging inmates a fee or copay for any medical or mental health services, including for prescriptions, medical visits, or necessary medical supplies.

 Legislation to Support Youth in Massachusetts

  • Senator Sal DiDomenico, Representative Jim O'Day and Vanna Howard

    This legislation requires that any public school which teaches sexual health must teach comprehensive, medically-accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual health education and about consent and healthy relationships.

  • Representative Majorie Decker

    This legislation requires that every public school teach comprehensive health education, including sexual health education.

  • Senator Pat Jehlen, Representatives Christine Barber and Jay Livingstone

    This bill provides access to menstrual products in prisons, homeless shelters, and public schools.