Advocates and elected officials in Massachusetts on Wednesday denounced a Texas law banning most abortions in the state that took effect at midnight.
Among the groups that support abortion rights that strongly criticized the Texas law was NARAL Pro-Choice MA, which tweeted Wednesday that the measure “gives politicians, neighbors, and even strangers the right to sue those who provide — or just help patients get — abortion after 6 [weeks]. They won’t stop with Texas. If we don’t fight back, we could see similar restrictions across the country.”
Massachusetts Attorney Maura Healey also took aim at the law.
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“Texas’ radical new abortion ban forces powerless patients to carry pregnancies, regardless of rape or incest, or have their doctors & families threatened with legal action,” Healey tweeted Wednesday. “We will fight this latest effort to overturn Roe v. Wade & stand up for freedom, privacy, and basic rights.”
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a Boston Democrat, criticized the US Supreme Court for refusing tp block the Texas law and called on Congress to pass abortion rights legislation.
“In this moment where anti-choice state legislatures and a co-opted Supreme Court will stop at nothing to ban abortion care, we must proactively legislate reproductive justice and meaningfully advance policies that affirm that abortion care is a fundamental human right,” Pressley said in a statement.
“We must use every tool at our disposal to protect the bodily autonomy of all people — regardless of income, gender identity, or race — and we’re not backing down in this fight,” she said.
Her words were echoed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Cambridge Democrat who unsuccessfully sought her party’s presidential nomination last year.
“The Texas abortion ban is an unconstitutional attack on reproductive rights — an attack happening all across America,” Warren tweeted. “Let’s be very clear: We’re going to fight this ban and defend #RoeVWade.”
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Another Massachusetts politician voicing anger over the Texas law was state Senator Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat.
“Outraged by Texas enacting this law severely restricting abortion rights, incl/ banning abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy & allowing individuals to bring civil lawsuits against abortion providers,” Eldridge tweeted. “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The Texas law stands as the most dramatic restriction on abortion rights in the country since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion across the country in 1973. The high court was silent Wednesday on an emergency appeal to put the Texas law on hold.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott in May signed the Texas measure into law. It bars abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before most women know they’re pregnant.
“As we knew would happen, thanks to a politically manipulated #SCOTUS, Texas now bans almost all #abortions,” tweeted Massachusetts state Senator Becca Rausch, a Needham Democrat, on Wednesday. “1st time since #RoeVWade that a state successfully banned #abortion early in pregnancy.”
In Massachusetts, abortion rights are more secure. The state last year passed the ROE Act, which made it into law at the end of 2020 over Governor Charlie Baker’s veto. It codified and expanded the right to abortion in Massachusetts.
“Let’s be clear: Abortion is health care,” tweeted Representative Katherine Clark, a powerful Melrose Democrat who also serves as assistant US House speaker, on Wednesday. “The Texas abortion ban is an unconstitutional attack on our rights and will undeniably hurt Black, Latino and low income Texan women most. But we won’t back down.”
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Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.