“It is about the right to parent a child in a safe and healthy community.”
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has announced the launch of a new hotline for abortion-care providers and people seeking confidential legal advice.
The Abortion Legal Hotline will offer help accessing abortion-care resources for both residents and people traveling to the Commonwealth for abortion services.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Ma., reminded people there is no shame in having an abortion or seeking information regarding one’s own health care.
“The only shame is that there are unrelenting, coordinated legislative efforts and forces at work to deny you that which is your fundamental human right, and that is access to health care,” Pressley asserted.
The hotline will be run by Reproductive Equity Now, the Women’s Bar Foundation and five law firms offering pro bono services, and can be reached at 1-833-309-6301.
Andrea Campbell, Attorney General, joined Pressley in announcing the new hotline and the Commonwealth’s commitment to protecting abortion rights, and both drew attention to the collective grief surrounding Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man killed by police in Memphis earlier this month.
Campbell noted reproductive justice is about more than access to abortion.
“But it is about the right to parent a child in a safe and healthy community, and police violence interferes with that right,” Campbell contended.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, more than a dozen states moved to ban or restrict access to legal abortion care.
In Massachusetts, lawmakers passed one of the strongest shield laws protecting abortion providers, as well as access to care for both residents and those who cross state lines to access health care services.
Kathryn Carley began her career in community radio, and is happy to be back, covering the New England region for Public News Service. Getting her start at KFAI in Minneapolis, Carley graduated from the University of Minnesota and then worked as a reporter for Minnesota Public Radio, focusing on energy and agriculture. Moving to Washington, D.C., she filed stories for The Pacifica Network News and The Pacifica Report. Later Carley worked as News Host for New York Public Radio, WNYC as well as Co-Anchor for Newsweek’s long running radio program, Newsweek on Air. Carley also served as News Anchor for New York Times Radio. She now lives near Boston, MA.
