Pro-Lifers File Nearly 100K Signatures Against Late-Term Law
If certified, Gov. Healey’s August expansion is frozen until 2028. Bishops urge every parish to defend each child’s chance to live.
On October 29, 2026, the Compassionate Care Coalition announced at a Massachusetts Statehouse press conference hosted by Massachusetts Citizens for Life that its referendum petition had gathered 99,962 certified signatures — far above the 49,716 required — while additional signatures were still being counted. Coalition chair Sam Miele and volunteers then delivered several boxes of certified petitions to the secretary of state. Final certification by the Secretary of the Commonwealth remains pending.
The petition, known as Repeal188 after the chapter of the session law, targets An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care (House Bill 5595). Gov. Maura Healey signed the measure on August 10, 2026. It removed prior guardrails on late-term abortion, leaving the decision to "the professional judgment of the physician." The law was set to take effect November 8. Once the petition is certified, the statute is suspended until voters decide on the 2028 ballot.
Bishops Call Every Child a Gift
That same day the four Massachusetts bishops — Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston and Bishops William D. Byrne of Springfield, Edgar M. da Cunha of Fall River, and Robert J. McManus of Worcester — issued a message to the faithful: "Every child is a gift, and every person deserves a chance to live." Miele said the bishops declared support for the referendum petition, encouraging every parish to get involved, and credited hundreds of Protestant churches that did the same.
Archbishop Henning said presenting the law as aid for women facing late-term complications was "a bit of a misrepresentation" and added, "I think it was a political move in an election year." Bishop da Cunha said the statute opened later-stage abortion "for anyone who wished to terminate a pregnancy" "for any reason." Bishop McManus called it "horribly immoral" and "tantamount to infanticide."
Call on the Governor
Miele urged Healey, who holds constitutional authority to issue an emergency preamble that would make the law take effect immediately, to "have the faith and the courage to allow the people." Massachusetts Citizens for Life likewise pressed her not to use that power.
Supporters include Massachusetts Family Action, Massachusetts Family Institute, Democrats for Life of America, and the Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance. At the Statehouse event, the Truth About Choice memorial recalled the 49,450 children lost to abortion in Massachusetts in 2024.
The Church teaches that every human life is sacred from conception. The petition now awaits certification that would place that teaching before Massachusetts voters.