By Lucretia Hughes Klucken
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation expanding abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy, surrounded by Democratic supporters who smiled, laughed, cheered and applauded.
The celebration was sickening.
These were not solemn faces confronting a rare and heartbreaking medical emergency. These women appeared overjoyed as Healey signed a law removing specific restrictions on abortions performed after 24 weeks.
Watching them celebrate, I could only think one thing: The demons were clapping in the background.
House Bill 5595, titled “An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care,” replaces the specific conditions previously required for an abortion after 24 weeks with a much broader standard.
Under the former law, a physician had to determine that an abortion after 24 weeks was necessary to preserve the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or that the unborn child had a lethal or grave diagnosis. The new law permits an abortion after 24 weeks based upon the physician’s “professional judgment.”
The law does not establish a new gestational cutoff after 24 weeks. That means it allows abortions later in pregnancy — potentially up to birth — if a physician determines the procedure is appropriate under that broad professional-judgment standard.
Let us stop hiding behind carefully selected political language. When a law removes defined medical conditions after 24 weeks and replaces them with the judgment of one physician, it opens the legal door to abortion through the final stages of pregnancy.
Democrats may object to calling it “abortion up to birth,” but the legislation contains no replacement cutoff between 24 weeks and birth. If Democrats did not intend for the law to reach that far, they could have written a clear limit into it.
They did not.
The legislation also states that no medical review process may override the judgment of the treating physician and the patient or the patient’s health care proxy. The Massachusetts House approved the measure 119-33 before it advanced through the Legislature. Massachusetts Legislature
Supporters argue that the law protects women experiencing devastating pregnancy complications and prevents hospital review boards from overruling treating physicians. Those cases deserve compassion, honesty and the highest quality of medical care.
But heartbreaking cases should not be used to erase safeguards protecting every viable unborn child.
By 24 weeks, an unborn baby has developed organs, a heartbeat and recognizable human features. With modern neonatal care, some babies born at that stage can survive outside the womb.
That is not a meaningless collection of cells. That is a human life.
I do not care how strongly Democrats object to the language in this opinion column: What happened at that signing ceremony appeared demonic.
The Democratic politicians and activists standing behind Healey were not mourning a tragedy. They were beaming. They were laughing. They were cheering. They were clapping while a governor signed legislation expanding the circumstances under which unborn babies can be killed late in pregnancy.
There is something spiritually dark about celebrating death.
The women standing behind Healey should be especially ashamed. Women know the extraordinary ability of the female body to carry and nurture life. Yet these women celebrated a law that offers fewer protections to unborn children, including unborn baby girls.
What exactly were they celebrating?
Were they celebrating the removal of clearly defined safeguards after 24 weeks? Were they celebrating the power to end the life of a child who may be capable of surviving outside the womb? Were they celebrating because the unborn child has no voice, no vote and no seat at the table?
The Democratic Party has moved far beyond arguing that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” Democrats now hold signing ceremonies, pose for photographs and applaud as abortion protections are expanded deeper into pregnancy.
That is not compassion. It is demonic.
Compassion does not celebrate death. Compassion mourns tragedy, supports frightened mothers, provides excellent medical care and searches for every possible way to protect both mother and child.
Women experiencing dangerous pregnancies deserve genuine support. They deserve accurate information, outstanding physicians, financial assistance, emotional care and communities prepared to walk beside them.
But their unborn children deserve compassion, too.
We must stop allowing political language to conceal human reality. Calling abortion “reproductive health care” does not change what the procedure does. Calling an unborn baby a “pregnancy” or “fetus” does not erase that child’s humanity. Calling the decision “professional judgment” does not answer the moral question of who speaks for the child.
A society reveals its character by how it treats its most defenseless members. Unborn babies cannot march, hire attorneys or plead with lawmakers. They depend upon adults to recognize their humanity and protect their lives.
Scripture warns against calling evil good and good evil, and against replacing light with darkness. Massachusetts officials may describe this legislation as progress, but no civilized society should call the destruction of viable unborn life progress.
The smiling faces behind Healey will remain a defining image of this law.
Politicians can rename abortion. They can expand it, finance it and shield it through legislation. They can applaud one another and celebrate for the cameras.
But government cannot erase the humanity of the life being ended.
Government may declare something legal. It cannot declare it moral.
Yes, demons were clapping in the background. Christians and every American who values human life must do more than shake their heads. We must speak for those who cannot speak, support mothers in crisis and refuse to accept a culture that celebrates the destruction of its own children.
The applause may have filled the room, but it will never silence the truth.
An unborn baby is a human life — and every human life is worthy of protection.
Stay informed. Stay engaged. And never stop asking questions.
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