Nine Massachusetts Democrats stood up in their own State House this week.
They voted against their own governor's new abortion law.
One of them didn't stop at voting no.
A Democrat Broke Ranks And Said What His Party Won't
Gov. Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act on Monday.
The room did what deep-blue rooms do.
Women applauded.
Cameras rolled.
Healey promised abortion would stay "safe, legal and accessible" in Massachusetts no matter what happens in Washington.
What the ceremony did not include was the fact that nine members of her own party's House caucus had already voted no.
State Rep. Jeffrey Turco of Winthrop wasn't shy about why.
"This new law represents an extremist and dangerous position," he told Fox News Digital.
He went further, saying the bill effectively allows abortion at any point in pregnancy, with no restrictions, and often at taxpayer expense.
Turco isn't some conservative plant.
He's a sitting Massachusetts Democrat, in a legislature that passed this bill 119-33.
And when a member of Gov. Healey's own party reaches for a word usually reserved for her opponents, that word is worth hearing all the way to the end of this article.
State Rep. Dennis Gallagher, another no vote, made the underlying problem even simpler.
The old law already let doctors act when a mother's health was at risk or a baby had a lethal diagnosis.
This bill didn't add protections for hard cases.
It deleted the requirement that a hard case exist at all.
"If the health of the mother is fine and the baby's health is fine," Gallagher said, alternatives should be encouraged instead.
That's the part Healey's signing ceremony skipped.
What The Law Actually Does
Under the old statute, abortions after 24 weeks required a specific justification.
A threat to the mother's life or health, or a lethal fetal diagnosis.
The new law throws that list out entirely, replacing it with a single standard: the physician's "professional judgment."
It also strips the requirement that late-term abortions happen in a hospital.
National Right to Life called the bill's title deceptive, arguing it doesn't add exceptions so much as erase the ones that used to exist.
Massachusetts is now the 10th state with no gestational limit on abortion, joining Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.
Catholic bishops in the state saw this coming and said so before the ink dried.
Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston and three other Massachusetts bishops called the bill "a radical measure which is gravely immoral" in a joint statement issued before the Senate vote.
They asked the Senate to stop the bill.
It didn't.
Bishop Robert Barron, whose commentary reaches a national Catholic audience, didn't soften it for social media.
He described what the law permits in blunt physical terms.
A fully developed child, he said, can now be "eviscerated, chopped into pieces" under the law's protection.
He also drew a pointed contrast to Mario Cuomo, the last generation's most famous Catholic Democrat, who once admitted the procedure weighed on his conscience even as he chose to keep it legal.
Barron's point: today's Massachusetts Democrats show none of that same hesitation.
Massachusetts Democrats Already Fought This Exact Battle Once
Healey's law isn't a one-off.
In 2020, state Democrats pushed through the "Roe Act" and overrode their own governor's veto to do it, opening the door to late-term abortion on demand and letting girls as young as 16 get abortions without a parent's knowledge.
Charlie Baker, that governor, was pro-choice.
He vetoed the bill anyway.
That was the tell in 2020, and it's the tell again now.
When a state's own governor, or its own legislators, think a bill goes too far, "moderate" is not the word for it.
Polling from that earlier fight undercuts the idea that any of this reflects what Massachusetts voters actually want.
Surveys at the time found most Massachusetts voters opposed expanding late-term abortion.
Most also supported keeping parental consent laws and hospital requirements for late-term procedures on the books.
Healey didn't run this bill past voters either.
Turco pointed out the bill cleared the legislature in just two weeks, with essentially no chance for ordinary residents to weigh in first.
The Word Turco Used
Democrats keep reaching for the same script every time this issue comes up.
Leave it to the doctors, not the lawmakers.
Protecting families going through the worst week of their lives.
It's a good line.
It's not what nine of their own state lawmakers just said about this specific bill.
You don't get lawmakers from your own party calling a bill extreme and rushed unless the bill actually earns those words.
Turco went further than any of them.
"The new law is barbaric," he said.
Not a Republican.
Not Fox News.
A Massachusetts Democrat, describing his own governor's signature legislation, on the record.
Healey framed her signature as a shield against Donald Trump, vowing that nothing coming out of Washington would change her position.
That's a fine applause line at a bill signing.
It's a much harder sell to the parents in Turco's own district, who just watched their representative call his party's bill barbaric to a national news outlet.
Sources:
- Bonny Chu, "Dem Gov Maura Healey signs sweeping Massachusetts bill allowing abortions up to birth," Fox News, August 10, 2026.
- Fox News Digital Staff, "'Extremist' and 'barbaric': Massachusetts Democrats break ranks over new abortion law," Fox News, August 2026.
- Jeff Charles, "'Barbaric': Even Dems Are Calling Out Law Allowing Abortion Up Until Birth," Townhall, August 14, 2026.
- LifeNews.com Staff, "Even Some Democrats Slam Maura Healey for Signing 'Barbaric' Abortions Up to Birth," LifeNews, August 14, 2026.
- National Right to Life, "Governor Healey Signs Extreme Massachusetts Law Allowing Abortion Until Birth," August 2026.
- Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, "SBA List Blasts Extreme Massachusetts Abortion Law Enacted Over Gov's Veto," December 2020.
- The Catholic Herald, "Bishop Barron criticises Massachusetts governor over abortion law," August 13, 2026.
- Massachusetts Catholic Conference, Joint Statement of Massachusetts Bishops, July 29, 2026.
