‘Women Here Are Going to Have Access to Abortion’: How Gov. Maura Healey Made Massachusetts into a Beacon for Reproductive Freedom

Healey shared her blueprint for defending abortion access and protecting abortion providers at the state level in the latest episode of the Ms. podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward: “Women should have the freedom to make healthcare decisions for themselves. That’s not something that the government should be doing.”

Maura Healey is no stranger to defying norms. Before she became Massachusetts’ first woman governor, and one of the first queer women ever elected governor nationwide, she was the state’s first out lesbian elected attorney general and the first openly LGBT person elected to any of its state offices. (And before all that, she made history by successfully arguing the state’s challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, making Massachusetts the first state in the country to reject the anti-gay law.) 

Now, Healey is leading The Bay State forward in a march towards progress for women, despite and in open defiance of the sexist agenda of the Trump administration—and working alongside other governors in the Reproductive Freedom Alliance to protect and expand abortion rights at the state level across the country.

In the second episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward—a Ms. podcast exploring the history of the magazine and the feminist movement—Healey talked to me about how Massachusetts prepared for the Trump administration’s attacks on abortion, what other states can do to protect and enshrine abortion access, and how her Title IX story led her to the governor’s mansion.

Healey is joined in this episode by constitutional law and health policy expert Michele Goodwin, WeTestify founder Renee Bracey Sherman, Plan C co-directors Angie Jean-Marie and Amy Merrill, and Women’s Law Project executive director Susan Frietsche. Together, we explore the long history of women’s fight for reproductive rights in the United States—and articulate strategies for defending and expanding abortion access across the country.

This interview has been edited and re-organized for clarity and length.

Carmen Rios: Give me a birds-eye view of what has made Massachusetts a beacon for reproductive rights. Can you explain to me those laws that you’ve put in place, those things that you have done to make sure abortion access is protected in the state, that you guys are a leader in women’s reproductive freedom?

Maura Healey: Massachusetts is ranked the number one state in the country to live if you’re a woman, to have a baby, to raise a family. That’s important for this conversation. It’s also important to talk about what we’ve done in terms of laws and policies and actions that I’ve taken as Governor to make this a place where people want to come live, where women feel more protected, where women are having better economic outcomes, where we’ve been ranked the best place to actually have a baby. 

Here’s what we’ve done. Number one, we passed a law called the ROE Act, which protects the right to an abortion in Massachusetts. It enshrines that in law. That was something that we did immediately after the Dobbs decision. 

The next thing is, we passed a really strong shield law. That’s a law that’s in place to protect patients, as well as providers, including providers who are providing services to people out of state. We have seen a 600 percent increase in people coming to Massachusetts from other states because they couldn’t get abortion care in their own state. They’ve been coming to Massachusetts, where they know they can get that care. This is happening because of Donald Trump and the Supreme Court, and the overturning of Roe, and the fact that today, one in three American women live in a state with an abortion ban. 

We have said: Women here are going to have access to abortion. We’re going to protect that right. We’re going to protect our providers, our doctors and nurses, and staff, who are providing that needed care—and that includes doctors and providers who are providing care to an estimated 40 or 50,000 women outside of Massachusetts through telehealth services. 

And third, stockpiling mifepristone. We purchased enough mifepristone to last us through the administration in the event that Donald Trump looks to take that away. We also gave a million dollars to abortion providers so that they could also purchase and stockpile Mifepristone. 

The other thing we did is we made over-the-counter contraception free in Massachusetts. 

These are just some of the things that we’ve done, and I’m proud of Massachusetts for doing it. 

We need to, from a state government perspective, do all we can to support these abortion providers who are on the frontlines providing care to women.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey

Rios: You were Attorney General of Massachusetts during the first Trump administration. What lessons from your tenure then are informing your fight for equality now?

Healey: As Attorney General, I sued Trump nearly 100 times and had an 80 percent win rate, because we had the law and the Constitution on our side. What I learned is that when President Trump does something illegal or unconstitutional, people need to be in court holding him to account—because we are a nation of laws, we are governed by the rule of law, and that’s really important. It was very important during Trump One. It is important during Trump Two. 

The other thing that I take as a lesson is that we need to continue to talk about and support basic American freedoms and values. Here in Massachusetts, we are celebrating 250 years in this country. We’re where this country was born, and what I am reminded of in that is how important it is for people to understand that we have a job, all of us, to protect the Constitution. The Constitution isn’t a suggestion. It’s the Constitution.

A lot of what we see playing out right now—whether it’s in the immigration context where it seems that people are being taken away without due process or when it comes to what’s happening with attacks on women’s health and reproductive freedom—there are core principles that are enshrined in the Constitution and we need to talk about that, and we need to push back any time the president or his agencies are engaged in unconstitutional overreach.

The other thing I’d say, in terms of what we need to do in this moment, is to reaffirm that diversity is strength not a flaw. Participation of women, for example, in the military, in the workforce, in government, has only made us stronger as a country, has only made for better outcomes.

I’m the first woman elected governor in Massachusetts. My lieutenant governor is a woman. There are women who serve in the majority of constitutional offices. There are women who are leading prominent universities here in Massachusetts, and prominent companies. All that is really important to reaffirm in this moment where there’s been efforts to just shut women out, and not have women in the room, and not have women at the proverbial table. 

We need to just be really clear that diversity is strength, and we need to fight back against these efforts to take us backwards.

The opportunities that I have, they come about because people were willing to stand up and fight for those rights, fight for those laws — and it’s my obligation to, and my responsibility to, carry on for this generation and the next generation.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey

Rios: Are there other threats and challenges that you anticipate? Are there things you’re hoping to do next in this fight for reproductive rights? 

Healey: It’s really important that we stay on offense. Offense is the best defense. That’s why we took actions, in the wake of Dobbs, to make sure that we were putting in place laws that protected abortion access, protected patients and providers of abortion care, made emergency contraception and birth control more available and accessible and free. All of this stuff is really important—but the attacks continue to come, and it takes a variety of forms, and we need to push back against that. 

The efforts to write women out of history, or take women off of web pages in national agencies, is crazy. It’s just wrong. Diversity is a strength, not a flaw. We need to push against that. 

We need to continue to make sure that women in all of our communities have access to care, and that they’re able to travel to get that care, that they’re able to see a doctor, see a provider, especially in our rural communities, and we need to protect the stability of that network, where a lot of people are under attack. They’re feeling the attacks—the bomb threats, the death threats, the efforts at litigation, the weaponization of the US Department of Justice against providers—and that really worries me.

We need to, from a state government perspective, but also from a community perspective, do all we can to support these abortion providers who are on the frontlines providing care to women in Massachusetts, but also women who are coming from other states where they’re not able to get that care. We need to be strong in fighting against that. 

Rios: What motivates you to work so hard to protect abortion access and reproductive freedom? Why are these issues so important to you? 

Healey: I’m a woman. I have a stepdaughter, I have nieces. I was raised by a strong single mother, who is also a nurse, who raised the five of us kids. My grandmother, also a nurse, was a really strong woman. 

This is about basic freedom. Women and men should be respected. Dignity and worth should extend to men and to women in equal order. It’s that fundamental. It’s freedom. Women should have the freedom to make healthcare decisions for themselves, should have the freedom to make decisions about their own body. That’s not something that the government should be doing, that’s something that a woman should have the freedom to do, and to make, in consultation with a medical provider. 

It’s also about empowerment, more broadly speaking. I think about the number of women who, because they were not able to access contraception at an earlier age, or because they didn’t have access to abortion—and I’m not even going to get into people who have been survivors of horrific rape and sexual assault and sexual violence, which is also a reason we need to have abortion protection in place, for these survivors. It’s outrageous that people don’t want to address that, victims of incest, right. But when it comes to women, more broadly speaking, think about women who weren’t able to access that care, contraception or abortion, and as a result had to drop out of high school, had to drop out of college, had to leave the workforce. This is about economic empowerment, too. Women need to be given the opportunities and the tools to be able to achieve that economic empowerment.

Laws that take away women’s access to healthcare, laws that take away women’s access to abortion or contraception, these are laws that also set women back—not just when it comes to their fundamental freedom, but also when it comes to their economic circumstance. And by the way, we’re talking oftentimes about women who already have children, women who are married who have children, couples who need to decide and want to decide what makes sense for them and what they’re able to take on. We’re talking about women who are confronted with serious medical issues and challenges, and may need to access an abortion and abortion care. 

To deny women that, and to put their lives at risk, is absolutely unconscionable. That’s just another reason why we need to make sure that we are passing these laws, taking these actions to do everything we can to protect women in this country. 

Laws that take away women’s access to healthcare, laws that take away women’s access to abortion or contraception, these are laws that also set women back.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey

Rios: This podcast looks back on the last 50-plus years of Ms. and the feminist movement. What do you hope will be different in the next 50 years when it comes to abortion and reproductive rights and women’s rights? 

Healey: That it’s not a question. That we’ve evolved to a place where we’re not having to continue to fight for abortion access, or equal pay, or against laws and actions and policies that are discriminatory, and that harm women, and that set women back. I hope it comes a lot of sooner than 50 years, but as I look ahead, that is my hope—and I’m going to continue to do everything I can as Governor and as a leader to work towards that every single day. 

I’m probably Governor because I’m the beneficiary of Title IX. I was born in 1971, about the time that the Title IX legislation was passed, and for me, what that meant is that, particularly when it came to sports, I had more opportunities in sports. I was able to go on and play basketball in college. I was able to go on and play basketball professionally. Those experiences certainly formed who I am, and gave me more confidence, and taught me about leadership, and taught me about taking risks. I probably wouldn’t have ever ended up running for attorney general or governor were it not for those things. I just tie it back directly to Title IX.

Everybody has their story about the importance of a law like that. That’s why I am so committed to it—because I recognize that the opportunities that I have, they come about because people were willing to stand up and fight for those rights, fight for those laws, and it’s my obligation to, and my responsibility to, carry on for this generation and the next generation.

I love Ms. magazine and all that it’s represented—so congratulations on 50 years, and here’s to 50 more fabulous years!