One year after Dobbs decision, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts aims to improve abortion access with new research and advocacy 

BOSTON – This week marks one year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision; in the year since, 20 states have implemented abortion bans. Abortion remains legal in Massachusetts, with lawmakers passing a reproductive health care law in July of 2022, just one month after the Dobbs decision on June 24^th, to strengthen provisions of the ROE Act, shield providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from hostile legal action, mandate insurance providers cover abortion, and expand access to medication abortion and emergency contraception.  

Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) is the state’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive health care including abortion, serving over 40,000 patients annually. 

“In the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts has continued to provide expert, compassionate care to patients in our communities and to those that travel to Massachusetts to ensure they have timely access to abortion,” said Ellen Frank, interim President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “We have helped hundreds of patients overcome barriers to accessing care with telehealth services and patient navigation that provides hands-on support to those from remote parts of Massachusetts or from more restrictive states who need financial and logistical support to access care. And we’ve scaled our research, education, and training programs to help address the growing public health crisis that abortion bans are creating across the country.”  

In October, PPLM launched the ASPIRE Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health to advance excellence and equity in sexual and reproductive health through its nationally recognized clinical and social science research, evidence-based professional education, and clinical training. ASPIRE has several active studies focused on abortion access, including two that are studying the impacts of abortion bans in a post-Roe United States.  

The Quality and Equity in Abortion Seeking Travel (QuEAST) study, led by Dr. Elizabeth Janiak, will explore the barriers interstate travelers face on their journey to accessing abortion care in Massachusetts, the health impacts of abortion restrictions, and how to better serve the needs of the most vulnerable abortion travelers, particularly marginalized young people crossing state lines for care. PPLM’s QuEAST study recently received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  

“No pregnancy-capable individual is physically safe in a state with an abortion ban, because these bans lead to denials of life-saving care. However, these bans will affect some groups disproportionately,” said Dr. Elizabeth Janiak, Director of Social Science Research at PPLM. “The goal of the QuEAST study is to identify and work to remove those barriers to care that most affect people already marginalized in our health care system — people who are BIPOC, trans or gender non-conforming, legal minors, and others whose identities are subject to dynamics of power and oppression in our society.”  

ASPIRE is also conducting a national analysis into state laws that impede the ability of teens to access safe and affordable abortion care in a post-Roe environment. This legal research, the Minors Abortion Access Research and Advocacy Project (MAARAP), will assess the national legal landscape of parental involvement laws, shield laws, and the emerging trend of "abortion trafficking" laws with the goal of providing policy recommendations that mid- and high-access states can implement to increase access for minors traveling to receive abortion care.  

PPLM and the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts (PPAF) are advocating for the passage of several bills that would strengthen abortion protections and make it easier for people of all ages, identities, and income level to access abortion and other sexual and reproductive health care. 

“Since the Dobbs decision, 1 in 3 women and more trans and nonbinary folks have lost access to abortion in their home state. Massachusetts has an important role to play in the abortion access landscape, but barriers to care remain,” said Dr. Nate Horwitz-Willis, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts. “Right now, reproductive health advocates and lawmakers have the responsibility to do everything we can to make abortion, contraception, sex education, and other reproductive health care accessible and equitable in Massachusetts so that every person, no matter who they are or where they live, can get the care they deserve.”  

On June 13^th, PPAF welcomed eight state representatives including several members of House leadership to tour PPLM's Boston health center and discuss reproductive health care access in Massachusetts with the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund. Attendees included Representatives Ruth Balser, Kate Hogan, Kevin Honan, Frank Moran, Mike Moran, Jim O’Day, Sarah Peake, and Alice Peisch.  

PPAF has endorsed 11 bills this session, including:  

• An Act relative to telehealth and digital equity for patients (S.655 | H.986). Telehealth options remove significant cost barriers to care, especially for patients living in rural areas or who can't afford child care or to take time off work for a medical appointment. By permanently extending a pandemic health emergency measure requiring insurance companies to reimburse telehealth visits at equitable rates, this bill will help make telehealth services more available statewide, including for sexual and reproductive health care.  
• An Act relative to healthy youth (S.268 | H.544) Sex education helps to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and helps young people build healthy relationships and a culture of consent. The Healthy Youth Act would ensure all sex ed curricula taught in Massachusetts public schools meet comprehensive standards so that students are taught medically accurate, age appropriate, inclusive material. 
• An Act enhancing access to abortion care (S.1114 | H.1599) Further removing medically unnecessary barriers to abortion will expand access in Massachusetts at a time when millions of Americans have lost access to abortion in their home state. This bill will prevent targeted restrictions on abortion providers aka TRAP laws, remove parental consent requirements that still make it burdensome and traumatic for teens to get care, and invest in public education efforts to combat mis- and dis-information from anti-abortion organizations targeting pregnant people. 
• An Act relative to hormonal contraceptives (S.1430 | H.2133) National attacks on abortion access make increasing access to contraceptives even more urgent. This bill would expand access to certain forms of birth control in Massachusetts by authorizing trained pharmacists to dispense them and eliminating the need for a person to get a prescription from a doctor before going to have it filled at a pharmacy. 23 states and D.C. have already adopted similar policies. 
• An Act protecting reproductive health access, LGBTQ lives, religious liberty, and freedom of movement by banning the sale of cell phone location information (S.148 | H.357) With abortion banned in 20 states and several states threatening to ban gender-affirming care, stronger digital privacy laws are needed to keep patients – and the providers of that care - safe. The Location Shield Act would prohibit the sale of cell phone location information to prevent hostile actors from tracking people’s browsing history and targeting folks seeking or providing health care that is legal in Massachusetts. 

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