Boston.com | With new Mass. hotline, free abortion legal advice is just a call away

By Abby Patkin
Story Originally Appeared on Boston.com

As some states contemplate ways to restrict access to reproductive care after the fall of Roe v. Wade, Massachusetts is launching a new hotline offering free legal advice and resources to those seeking or providing abortions.

Launched Monday, the Abortion Legal Hotline is geared toward Massachusetts-based providers and helpers, as well as patients looking to obtain care in the commonwealth.

The Reproductive Equity Now Foundation started the hotline in partnership with Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the Women’s Bar Foundation, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and five big-name law firms.

“This hotline will serve as a confidential resource to connect Massachusetts-based health care providers and patients in obtaining abortion care in-state with legal advice free of charge,” Campbell said in a press conference Monday. “It will help people and families — including those who travel from out of state seeking care — access these critical health care services.”

The hotline is available at 833-309-6301.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — which ruled that abortion is not a constitutionally protected right — “created a really chaotic patchwork of abortion laws that make it very difficult for patients and providers alike to figure out how to navigate.”

She described the hotline as “mission critical” to ensuring that abortion is a right not only on paper, but in reality.

Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said that as soon as Texas passed a law in 2021 banning abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, patients turned to Massachusetts for care. Last summer, then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill into law protecting providers and people seeking abortions from legal action taken by states with more restrictive laws.

“We have been preparing for passage of these draconian, anti-abortion, anti-science laws by ensuring that clinicians in the commonwealth can continue to provide loving and compassionate care, and patients seeking that care in Massachusetts can access it,” Hart Holder said. “So here’s the bottom line today: Abortion remains legal in Massachusetts, and no anti-abortion extremists should be able to reach across our borders and challenge that.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the new hotline will ensure people know where the laws stand after Dobbs.

“One of the results of the Dobbs decision has been misinformation — misinformation about which services are legal, deception about where to receive health care services, lies intended to discourage women from accessing basic reproductive care,” she said. “With this hotline, Massachusetts is fighting back against misinformation, deception, and outright lies.”

Rep. Katherine Clark called the hotline “a spark of hope for those who need it the most.”

Addressing those who have had an abortion or who seek one, Rep. Ayanna Pressley emphasized there is no need to feel shame about accessing reproductive care.

“The only shame is that there are unrelenting, coordinated legislative efforts and forces at work to deny you that which is your fundamental human right,” Pressley said. “And that is an access to health care.”