The first of a group of bills referred to as “Response 2025” in the Massachusetts state house aimed “to fight back against the Trump White House’s attack on the Bay State,” according to MassLive.com, is now slated for a vote in the state senate.
Senate Democrats this week said this first bill, which would shield reproductive and transgender care from out-of-state legal action, is ready for a vote on the Senate floor.
Reports MassLive.com:
That news came courtesy of Senate President Karen E. Spilka, who outlined some of the upper chamber’s legislative priorities with the end of the current budget year (and Pride Month) just days away on June 30.
“We will protect our residents, defend Massachusetts values, and help lead us out of these dark times,” Spilka said, adding that the effort took on some new urgency after last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The shield law update set to come before the Senate this week would, among other things, bolster privacy protections and guarantee that Massachusetts emergency rooms provide care to people seeking emergency reproductive treatment, according to GBH News.
[MA State Sen. Cynthia] Friedman, who has been leading the Senate’s response to Trump’s efforts to pull billions of dollars in federal funding for the commonwealth and to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ residents, called the legislation the “ next step in ensuring that people who provide that legal care and who need that legal care get access to it.”
Read the complete MassLive.com story here.
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