MassLive | Mass. abortion rights activist Kate Dineen to attend State of the Union
By Alison Kuznitz
Story Originally Appeared in MassLive
A Massachusetts woman whose personal story influenced the state’s 2022 abortion shield law, including provisions for the procedure performed later in pregnancy, will accompany U.S. Sen. Ed Markey at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday.
Markey’s announcement of Kate Dineen — an abortion activist who needed to travel from Boston to Bethesda, Maryland, to seek care in 2021 — as his guest comes as Massachusetts elected officials, across state and federal levels of government, rally to defend reproductive rights nationally following the Supreme Court’s controversial 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Dineen had been forced to travel 500 miles away from home — and pay more than $10,000 — to legally receive an abortion after her son “suffered a catastrophic stroke in utero,” Markey’s office said in a news release Monday. Dineen tried to be treated at Massachusetts General Hospital, but at the time, doctors warned state law curtailed abortions after 24 weeks, according to The Boston Globe.
“No one should ever have to go through the anguish and uncertainty Kate and her husband went through to find care,” Markey said in a statement, as he lamented that “extremist Republicans” are stripping away the civil rights of women, communities of color, young people and LGBTQ+ individuals.
“It is an injustice and an indignity that any person would be forced to travel hundreds of miles, spend thousands of dollars, and be away from their family in order to terminate a pregnancy,” Markey continued. “For many Americans, this journey is unthinkable and inaccessible because of the cost or time away from work or family. Even in a state like Massachusetts, with the best health care in the country, law can stand in the way of medicine when it should be there to support, honor, and facilitate reproductive choice. It is unacceptable.”
Markey added he’ll never give up fighting for Dineen and every American “who needs or wants an abortion.”
New state law, which reflects Dineen publicly sharing her grueling abortion journey, clarifies abortions are permitted later in pregnancy when one of four criteria is reached.
Those include whether the abortion is “necessary to preserve the life of the patient,” “necessary to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health,” “warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis,” or “warranted because of a grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions,” according to the legislation, which former Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law in late July.
The bill provides protections to both abortion providers and patients in Massachusetts, including out-of-state visitors, amid a patchwork of abortion bans and restrictions across the country. New Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell have both vowed to defend abortion access and protect women’s right to choose in the commonwealth.
In a statement, Dineen said she’s honored to join Markey and “spotlight America’s abortion access crisis.”
“I am proud of our work to safeguard and expand reproductive health care in Massachusetts, and we cannot stop fighting until every person across our country has access to compassionate abortion care throughout pregnancy, free from cost, travel, or legal barriers,” Dineen said. “No one should be forced to cross state lines and travel hundreds of miles from home for abortion care —at any point in their pregnancy. Abortion is health care and all Americans deserve the right to make health care decisions without government interference or criminal prosecution.”
Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, told MassLive she’s “so proud” that Dineen will garner national recognition Tuesday for her advocacy work. Reproductivity Equity Now — which last week launched an abortion legal helpline alongside Campbell, law firms and advocacy groups — helped championed the latest legislation on Beacon Hill.
“I could not think of a more perfect or deserving State of the Union guest than Kate Dineen,” Hart Holder said in a statement to MassLive. “Kate turned her pain into power, using her story to drive forward legislation in Massachusetts to expand access to abortion care throughout pregnancy. Her advocacy work will have a lasting impact and help ensure that no one must leave Massachusetts to access essential health care at any point in their pregnancy.”