THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2025 Page 21 LEGISLATURE | FROM Page 7 tive and gender-affirming care by establishing new safeguards around patient data, and by protecting health care professionals who provide that vital care. I would like to thank Chair Michlewitz, Chair Day, and all my colleagues in the House, along with Senate President Spilka and our partners in the Senate, for their commitment to protecting the rights of our residents.” “As a woman, I know firsthand what it means to live in a country where our most personal health care decisions are being politicized, attacked, and stripped away,” said Representative Jessica Ann Giannino (D-Revere). “This bill is about protecting people’s rights to control their own bodies, something that should never be up for debate. I’m proud that Massachusetts is once again standing strong against a tide of dangerous, regressive policies and sending a clear message: here, we trust people to make their own health care decisions with dignity, privacy, and respect.” “The Massachusetts Legislature is once again standing up to defend the rights of Massachusetts residents,” said Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), Chair of the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy, the committee tasked with leading the Senate’s Response 2025 eff ort. “Now, facing a wave of new threats on our autonomy from the federal government and other states, this legislation will enhance the protections for patients and providers we first put in place in 2022. In the Commonwealth, legally protected health care is just that, and we will always step up to uphold this and fi ght for our residents.” “The federal government has made one thing clear: Massachusetts is on her own when it comes to protecting the privacy and constitutional rights of our residents. Today, we meet this challenge by ensuring that legally protected healthcare decisions made here in the Commonwealth do not become the basis for radical prosecutors in other states to exploit individuals or encourage corporations to profi t off our personal data,” said Representative Michael S. Day (DStoneham), House Chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. “The Legislature will always protect our own residents and we will continuously re-affi rm the fact that all of our residents have equal protections under our laws and have control over their own healthcare decisions.” Several states have recently passed laws restricting access to reproductive and gender-affi rming healthcare while threatening to prosecute individuals who seek those services in Massachusetts. The Shield Act 2.0 prohibits state agencies and law enforcement from cooperating with other states or federal investigations into legally protected reproductive or transgender healthcare provided in Massachusetts. Businesses that manage electronic health information would similarly be limited in sharing patient data connected to these services. The bill also makes practical updates to protect providers, including: allowing prescriptions to be issued with the name of a healthcare practice rather than an individual practitioner; excluding certain reproductive and genderaffi rming medications from the state’s drug monitoring programs; and limiting third-party access to related medical records. It also makes clear that healthcare professionals are free to provide legal care services in Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth will resist attempts by other states or the federal government to prosecute healthcare professionals for providing those services. Additional provisions of the bill include: • Enhancing license protections for anyone providing or assisting in the provision of reproductive or transgender care. • Forbidding insurance companies from discriminating against or penalizing providers who off er reproductive and gender-affi rming care. • Protecting attorneys licensed in Massachusetts from removal or discipline for advising or representing clients on the topics of reproductive or transgender care. • Clarifying that Boards of Registration may not take disciplinary actions against practitioners for providing legally protected care and prohibiting boards from noting in a provider’s records any criminal, legal or disciplinary actions brought against them in other jurisdictions for providing care that is legally protected in Massachusetts. • Prohibiting courts from admitting or considering cases of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment brought against parents or caregivers because they support their child in seeking reproductive or transgender care. • Mandating that acute care hospitals provide stabilizing health services—including abortion care when necessary—to any patient who is injured or seeking emergency treatment, in response to the Trump Administration’s rollback of Biden-era guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that required hospitals to deliver abortion care in cases of emergency. Both chambers of the Legislature having voted to enact the Shield Act 2.0, the legislation will now be sent to the Governor for her signature. YOUR LOCAL NEWS & SPORTS IN SIX LANGUAGES. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ADVOCATE ONLINE BY SCANNING HERE! 1 bedroom, 1 bath furnished room for rent. $275. per week rent. Two week deposit plus 1 week rent required. Call: 617-435-9047 - NO TEXT FURNISHED ROOM FOR RENT EVERETT
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