THE HOUSE is poised to pass legislation Wednesday that would update the 2022 law shielding reproductive and transgender care in Massachusetts from legal threats that one top Democrat described as a “game of whack-a-mole.”
House Speaker Ron Mariano and two deputies said Tuesday they will bring to the floor a redraft (H 4271) of a Senate-approved bill that implements additional protections for providers and patients including a ban on dissemination of personally identifiable data linked to abortions or other reproductive or gender-affirming care.
Lawmakers pitched the measure as a way to plug gaps in existing state law, warning that the Trump administration and Republicans in other states could target Massachusetts in a post-Roe v. Wade crackdown.
“We thought what we did for [the law] back in 2022 addressed a pressing issue that we were seeing coming down the pipe,” Rep. Michael Day, who co-chairs the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview. “Unfortunately, it seems like this is going to be a game of whack-a-mole with an administration and states that continue to try to get involved in health decisions that individuals are making.”
The legislation would limit collection and distribution of data concerning reproductive and transgender care, including by prohibiting technology service providers and state regulators from fulfilling federal and out-of-state requests for relevant documents, according to a House summary.
Pharmacies could list a practice’s name, instead of an individual physician’s name, on prescription medication labels for reproductive and transgender drugs. Providers, attorneys and non-profit entities would also gain new protections from licensure or insurance consequences for their work in those fields.
The bill additionally seeks to codify a requirement at the state level for hospitals to treat all patients facing emergencies, including when abortion is medically necessary. Some lawmakers and advocates worry the federal version of that law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), could be threatened by the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress.
Day described the suite of reforms as “making sure that we’re really buttoning things up.”
Asked if he was aware of any instances of care being targeted in Massachusetts already, he pointed to the US Justice Department’s move last week to subpoena 20 unidentified doctors and clinics for information about “transgender medical procedures on children.”
“It’s only a matter of time before it gets to us if it hasn’t already,” Day said. “I don’t have a specific instance of one of those subpoenas landing in Massachusetts, but there’s nothing precluding that right now.”
“There’s definitely little pieces of incursions coming up, but again, in Mass., we don’t wait for Armageddon,” he added. “We see this coming. They broadcast what their intent is, and so we act first to make sure that doesn’t become a reality here.”
The House Ways and Means Committee voted to recommend the bill Tuesday, setting the stage for a vote of the full House on Wednesday.
Twenty-one House Democrats on the panel voted in favor of advancing the bill, according to results provided by a committee official. All eight of the panel’s Republicans reserved their rights, meaning they opted against standing for or against the bill during the committee poll.
The poll results did not list any vote taken by Democrat Reps. Rodney Elliott of Lowell, Russell Holmes of Boston, Kristin Kassner of Hamilton, Patrick Kearney of Scituate, Rita Mendes of Brockton, Alan Silvia of Fall River, and Chynah Tyler of Boston.
Democrats hold supermajority margins in both chambers, and they outnumber Republicans 133-25 in the House. Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol is registered as an independent and Democrat Representative-elect Lisa Field plans to join the House on Wednesday and get its membership back up to 160.
Day said the House redraft is “pretty close” to the version (S 2543) the Senate approved 37-3 — with two Republicans in support and three opposed — on June 26.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones previously said he “appreciate[s] the concerns that have been raised” about patients and providers facing prosecution and tracking for care offered in Massachusetts.
“I start out with sort of a predisposition to say, if you’re in Massachusetts availing yourselves of what are our laws, you shouldn’t face penalty or prosecution in your home state — and if you do, we shouldn’t be a party to it,” Jones, the chamber’s top Republican, said on July 1.
Mariano, who last month signaled an interest in acting quickly on the measure, on Tuesday said the House vote will occur “as the Trump Administration and Republicans across the country continue to target individuals for exercising their right to make their own health care decisions in consultation with their doctor.”
“The Shield Act builds on the Commonwealth’s proud history of preserving and expanding access to reproductive and gender-affirming care by establishing new safeguards around patient data, and by protecting health care professionals who provide that vital care,” Mariano said in a joint statement alongside Day and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Aaron Michlewitz. “Above all else, this legislation is representative of the House’s commitment to ensuring that Massachusetts remains a place where our residents can make personal health care decisions without fear of prosecution.”