We believe deeply that access to health care should not depend on one's zip code, income, or identity. By removing significant cost barriers such as the need to travel and take time off work for an appointment, telehealth has proved to be an essential tool in helping patients more easily access services, especially for patients living in remote or more rural areas. 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.

While abortion is legal in Massachusetts, it is not without restriction. This bill would further remove medically unnecessary barriers to abortion that often delay and/or stigmatize abortion care including several TRAP policies like unnecessary waiting periods for health-related information, ultrasounds inconsistent with the standard of care and review, and medically unnecessary regulations on facilities. It would also require the Department of Public Health to publicize information on where residents can find legitimate reproductive health care providers and invest in public education efforts to combat mis- and dis-information from anti-abortion organizations targeting pregnant people.

When a Massachusetts public school provides its students with sex education, there is currently no guarantee that the lessons are inclusive, age appropriate, or medically accurate. The Healthy Youth Act would ensure all sex education curricula taught in Massachusetts public schools meet comprehensive standards so that students are taught medically accurate, age appropriate, LGBTQ+ inclusive material, learn the benefits of delaying sex as well as how to prevent STIs and pregnancy when they become sexually active, and gain tools to build healthy relationships and create a culture of consent.

Learn more about the Healthy Youth Act here.

If care is outlawed in one state and a person travels to another state to obtain the care they need, their digital location trail can make them vulnerable to harassment and targeted litigation. With abortion banned in 18 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. This bill would prohibit the sale of cell phone location information so to prevent hostile actors from tracking people’s browsing history and targeting folks seeking or providing health care that is legal in Massachusetts. 

Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have enacted policies that allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense self-administered hormonal contraceptives. This bill would expand access to certain forms of birth control in Massachusetts by authorizing trained pharmacists to dispense certain forms of birth control and eliminating the need for a person to get a prescription from a doctor before going to have it filled at a pharmacy.

Doulas have been proven to improve health outcomes for birthing people, especially BIPOC patients, but their services often need to be paid out-of-pocket, making doula care inaccessible to patients who would benefit from it the most. This bill will provide Medicaid coverage for doula services for pregnant people, surrogates, foster parents and adoptive parents, making doula care more accessible and affordable, and furthering the goals of racial equity and reproductive and birthing justice. 

Fundamental to reproductive freedom and justice is the right to parent the children you have. This bill would ensure that Massachusetts’ parentage law gives equal right to all types of parents regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, or marital status, including those who welcome children via surrogate or assisted reproduction and LGBTQ+ parents. An equitable parentage law strengthens all parents’ legal connection to their children which directly contributes to the health and growth of a child.

Without access to affordable, high-quality early education and child care, parents and other caregivers are often unable to work or struggle to balance work with caring for their children, a burden which still overwhelmingly falls to women and people with lower incomes. All parents should be supported and be able to access the resources they need to work and care for their children. We’re proud to be members of the Common Start Coalition, fighting to make high-quality early education and child care affordable and accessible to all Massachusetts families.

In Planned Parenthood health centers, providers see firsthand the harmful ways that financial barriers prevent people from accessing the care and support they need. Every person should be able to raise a healthy family, regardless of how much money they make. This bill supports our state’s lowest-income families by increasing cash benefits for families with children living in deep poverty.

Deportation tears families apart and has devastating destabilizing effects; supporting reproductive freedom means supporting policies that help people keep their families safe, healthy, and whole. No one should fear deportation when seeking health care, and all people deserve the highest quality of care, no matter their immigration status. We're proud to continue supporting the Safe Communities Act which will help ensure everyone can seek medical care, emergency assistance, and protection without fear of deportation.

From blatant police brutality to centuries of institutionalized oppression, there has been no greater threat to Black lives than violence inflicted at the hands of the state, including through racist policies that disproportionately block Black and other people of color's access to basic care and services. As health care advocates, our top priority is patients’ health and safety, a concern that extends beyond our health center doors. We support the ACES Act which aims to improve public health and reduce police violence by investing in community- and health service-based emergency response options instead of relying on police forces to serve as first responders to a person in crisis.