Days before the midterm elections, antiabortion activists said they have gathered enough signatures to temporarily halt an abortion law that has been a talking point in Governor Maura Healey’s reelection campaign and put a measure on the 2028 ballot to repeal it.
The law, which Healey signed in August and is set to take effect Nov. 8, makes it easier for women to receive an abortion later in their pregnancies by reshaping the rules for how women can terminate their pregnancies at 24 weeks or later.
The conservative groups that led the repeal effort, Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Action, gathered 99,962 signatures, said Sam Miele, Massachusetts Family Action’s director. That far surpasses the more than 37,000 needed to put a measure to repeal it before voters in 2028 and the 12,430 more to potentially suspend the law in the interim.
A spokesperson for Secretary of State William F. Galvin said the campaign had until Nov. 6 to submit the paperwork to his office, which must confirm it collected enough certified signatures to qualify the measure.
State law used to allow abortion at that stage only under specific circumstances, including to preserve a patient’s life. The new law leaves the decision to end a pregnancy entirely to “the professional judgment of a physician,” making Massachusetts’ laws among the country’s broadest.
Healey could use her executive authority to declare the abortion law an “emergency” measure, immediately putting it into effect and blocking any push to suspend it until 2028. Under the state Constitution, she could do so until the measure goes before voters nearly two years from now.
A spokesperson for Healey didn’t say Thursday if she would do so, but said in a statement that she “continues to monitor the referendum process and evaluate options.”
“This law is for parents facing some of the most painful and devastating circumstances imaginable and making sure these decisions are made between a woman and her doctor,” spokesperson Jacqueline Manning said.
Miele on Thursday urged Healey to “respect the will of the people and respect the democratic process that elected you”
“The emergency preamble is reserved for times of true emergency,” Miele said. “There is no case to be made that this law is an emergency at all.”
His group first filed paperwork with the state last month to suspend and eventually seek the repeal of the law. Miele told the Globe in September that his group was motivated by what he called the “audacity of our governor” to approve the abortion law in early August.
“Maura Healey, she took a political bet, and it went too far,” Miele said at the time.
There’s precedent for the governor declaring a law an emergency. Second Amendment rights groups collected enough signatures in 2024 to immediately suspend and place on this year’s ballot a referendum repealing some of the state’s major gun ownership prohibitions.
But days before gun rights groups were due to turn in signatures, Healey declared the law an “emergency,” a move that drew intense backlash from those behind the repeal effort.
That repeal effort is now listed as Question 9 on Tuesday’s ballot.
Healey, lawmakers, and other advocates have said the change in abortion law was necessary, citing examples of women and families reported being forced to leave Massachusetts — and pay thousands of dollars — to seek abortion care despite the state being viewed as a haven for abortion access.
Dr. Angel Foster, a physician with Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants, said she hopes Healey declares the law an emergency, and that she has “a lot of faith in her” to “make a decision that makes sense.”
“It was the right decision to eliminate the restrictions in Massachusetts,” said Foster, whose nonprofit serves patients through the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, or MAP. “It is preposterous that a woman who needs an abortion because of some kind of event at 28 weeks had to travel outside the Commonwealth for that care. It is unconscionable.”
Sheila Ramirez, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, said in a statement that the groups behind the referendum effort “are once again spreading fear and misinformation to stigmatize abortion.”
“Voters are not interested in moving backward,” she wrote.
Kathleen Melendy, Massachusetts state director for Reproductive Equity Now, echoed the sentiment, accusing the repeal effort of being part of “a broader national anti-abortion campaign.”
The law has been a flashpoint in the governor’s race between Healey and Republican nominee Michael Minogue.
During their final debate earlier this month, moderators asked Minogue whether he would support the effort to repeal the law. Minogue, who has described himself as pro-life, said he would “obey the law. I will follow the law,” but he did not take a stand on the repeal effort specifically.
“I believe in the separation of church and state,” he said. “Now, I am still allowed to have my own beliefs, but my own beliefs will not get in the way of me doing what I’m supposed to do in upholding the law.”
Healey quickly attacked during the debate, saying she trusts women to make decisions and “Mike Minogue doesn’t.”
Kelly Garrity and Chris Van Buskirk of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.