Massachusetts' sweeping move to expand abortion rights up to birth is facing fierce criticism nationwide, with one neonatologist calling it "very disturbing" that life-and-death decisions are being made based on limited prenatal information.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Robin Pierucci, a co-chair of the American College of Pediatricians' Pro-Life Council, said she could not "reconcile" the newly signed law, which she said is ironically named the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act.
The bill, signed by Gov. Maura Healey last week, eliminates the state's previous 24-week gestational limit on abortion, making the deep-blue state the 10th to permit the procedure up to birth. Scheduled to take effect in less than 90 days, the law will allow terminations to be performed based on a physician's professional judgment.
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As a doctor who cares for newborns facing serious health complications, Pierucci said that even when a baby's condition cannot be cured, doctors still have an absolute "obligation to care" and should not simply turn to pregnancy termination.
"If it was really about healthcare, then it would be about protecting both the mom and the baby. And if we're really about healthcare, it would also be about if there's a problem that was identified — it will be about removing barriers for helping this baby live well," she said.
"Voting one off the island because there was a suspected diagnosis is just inconsistent to do no harm."
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Pierucci cited several concerns with eliminating gestational limits, including potentially inaccurate prenatal screening results that can mislead parents into considering abortion, advances in medical technology that can help babies born as early as 22 weeks, and the ethical dilemmas the law could create for medical professionals.
Parents are increasingly offered pregnancy termination based on prenatal screening tests that can produce misleading or inaccurate results, Pierucci said.
"There's something called the spectrum of disease, meaning I can't tell usually from just a picture how much or how little the patient's going to be affected," she said. "This thing is going on frequently. It's very disturbing that we're making life and death decisions with so little information."
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Pierucci warned that screening tests have become routine, but typically provide percentage-based probabilities rather than complete diagnostic certainty. As a result, parents may make irreversible decisions without fully understanding what the test actually indicates or how severely their child could be affected.
As a neonatologist who routinely cares for extremely premature babies born at the edge of viability, typically between 22 and 24 weeks, Pierucci warned that the measure creates an ethical contradiction for doctors who work to save premature babies born within that window.
A baby at 24 weeks' gestation is just over halfway through a full-term pregnancy. Roughly the size of a hand, the baby would have fingernails, eyelashes and rapidly developing brain activity, marking a significant milestone in fetal viability.
For babies diagnosed with fatal or severe conditions, Pierucci advocates for perinatal palliative care, which surrounds families with medical and emotional support while focusing on helping the infant remain comfortable for whatever time they have.
She described perinatal palliative care as a compassionate and active form of clinical care, rejecting the idea that medical care is only useful if it can result in a complete cure.
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"Even if we don't have the ability to fully heal something... I always have an obligation to care," she said.
Because the law does not account for alternative approaches, practitioners with conscientious objections to abortion can face ethical conflicts, Pierucci said.
"When we have laws that fail to meet an ethical standard, we risk moral trauma to those who have a conscientious objection to this. This is not consistent with their value system."
Ultimately, Pierucci said she opposes abortion regardless of gestational age, arguing that the value of a baby's life does not change based on how far along a pregnancy has progressed.
"I don't give it different value at different points in gestation," she said.
An early abortion does not make a mother hurt any less, she said, "It just meant her baby was dead sooner, which is heartbreaking to hear."
Healey's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
