New Commonwealth Beacon Polling: Bay Staters Overwhelmingly Support Mass. Providers Offering Abortion to Out-of-State Patients
Polling also shows that Massachusetts residents believe bold abortion access laws give the state a competitive advantage
BOSTON (November 3, 2023) — Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after new polling from Commonwealth Beacon shows that 72 percent of surveyed Massachusetts residents support health providers in the state providing abortion services to people from out of state. The polling also revealed that 58 percent of polled residents believe that the state’s abortion laws are a competitive advantage in attracting people to Massachusetts.
“It’s not a toss up. Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly support abortion access and want our state to be a place where people feel safe receiving compassionate care,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. “Today’s polling serves as a public mandate for our commonwealth to go even further in expanding access to abortion and protecting patients traveling to our state—including their digital privacy. We know that bold abortion access policy is popular, economically advantageous, and ensures that people are able to receive the health care they want and need.”
According to the Commonwealth Beacon, the poll was conducted from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20 among 1,002 Massachusetts residents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.
In a study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital this September, researchers reported an estimated increase of 37 percent in the number of out-of-state residents seeking abortion care in Massachusetts in the first four months after the Dobbs decision. New data from WeCount last week showed that abortions have not decreased nationally in the first year post-Roe—instead they have increased by 0.2 percent as states with abortion protections have absorbed out-of-state patients and increased access to care.
With more people traveling to Massachusetts for abortion than ever before, Reproductive Equity Now, alongside partners at the ACLU of Massachusetts, is advocating for the Legislature to pass the Location Shield Act, legislation to ban the sale of cellphone location data in Massachusetts. Every day, companies buy and sell detailed location data from apps on our cellphones, revealing where we live, work, and seek health care. Anyone can buy this data, including anti-abortion extremists and politicians, and use it to harm or threaten people seeking, or providers offering, care in Massachusetts.
Following Dobbs, the Massachusetts Legislature has taken major strides to expand abortion access in the state. In July 2022, the Legislature passed An Act expanding protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care, which created shield protections for Massachusetts providers offering lawful abortion to patients from out of state, improved access to medication abortion on public college campuses, expanded who is able to receive abortion after 24 weeks in Massachusetts statute, and mandated insurance coverage for abortion care. The state has also allocated nearly $20 million for abortion access and infrastructure since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
###