Massachusetts lawmakers may bolster funding for reproductive health care providers within the fiscal 2023 budget or another legislative option as they grapple with the shockwaves of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
But with an official leadership meeting between Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka abruptly canceled Monday afternoon, details remain murky on Beacon Hill. It’s also unclear when House and Senate negotiators will release a compromise budget, with discussions still underway between the two chambers.
“I do believe there will be additional funding coming in one of the financial documents that will land here sometime between now and the end of session,” Baker told reporters earlier Monday at the State House, before the leadership meeting was scuttled due to “scheduling reasons,” as Spilka’s office phrased it.
Spilka’s office did not cancel the meeting, a spokeswoman for the Ashland Democrat told MassLive.
The Republican governor stopped short of divulging exactly how much funding could be under consideration as some 65 million women across the country are at risk of losing access to abortion care.
In Massachusetts, access to abortion is enshrined in state law, Baker reiterated Monday. The governor also issued an executive order Friday strengthening abortion protections in the commonwealth.
The Massachusetts Senate, which unveiled its budget proposal after Politico published the leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito, allocated $2 million to cover security infrastructure at reproductive health care facilities. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, approved $500,000 in its fiscal 2023 budget.
At around 2 p.m. Monday, despite the leadership meeting cancelation, Mariano, alongside House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, strode into the Senate Reading Room. Mariano told reporters that lawmakers were working on strengthening abortion protections, but he provided no specific information.
“As the legislative session comes to a close, and given the recent SCOTUS opinions, the Speaker and House leadership are busy with active discussions about pending legislative items,” a spokesperson for Mariano also said in a statement to MassLive.
Michlewitz, when asked about what additional funding for abortion providers would be made available, told MassLive: “We’re working on it right now.”
But Sen. Cindy Friedman, who successfully spearheaded a Senate budget amendment shielding abortion care providers from delivering services here to women from states with abortion bans, said the $2 million allocation should be seen as a “great place to start.”
“We’ll see, as we move forward, what we should be advocating for,” Friedman told MassLive as she exited the Senate chamber area Monday afternoon.
The Arlington Democrat said she’s heard from abortion providers who are concerned about security after Friday’s Supreme Court decision.
“We have to make sure that we’ve covered all our bases in terms of ensuring that people have access to reproductive care,” Friedman said. “And that means supporting all of our providers, it means helping ... women come to a state that is providing full access to care. I think we need to ensure that we protect our providers.”
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