Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) announced the Massachusetts Legislature passed a bill known as the healthcare “Shield Act 2.0,” a bill that will fortify protections for those seeking and providing reproductive and gender-affirming care in the Commonwealth.
The bill, S.2543, which was approved by both the Senate and House chambers on a bipartisan basis, continues the Legislature’s track record of ensuring patients are able to make decisions regarding their own health care.
The Shield Act 2.0 protects access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare in Massachusetts. It also adds a layer of protection for patients and providers at a time when attacks on reproductive and transgender rights are escalating on multiple fronts, including executive orders from the Trump Administration, federal funding freezes for care providers, a Supreme Court decision ruling against transgender care, and other states’ lawsuits against physicians providing reproductive healthcare.
S.2543 builds on the model legislation of the ROE Act and the original shield legislation enacted in 2022.
“Massachusetts is a place where personal freedoms are respected and protected, including rights to make one’s own healthcare decisions,” said Lovely. “The Shield Act 2.0 affirms the Commonwealth’s commitment to patients and providers alike, protecting access and privacy in the face of threats to these personal freedoms.”
Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland) said, “Massachusetts will not back down when it comes to protecting our residents and defending our values.”
“Our residents — indeed, all Americans — deserve the right to make their own healthcare decisions in consultation with their providers. In Massachusetts, we do not discriminate based on the type of care you seek, and this bill strengthens protections for transgender people and those who have the ability to get pregnant,” she said.
Several states have recently passed laws restricting access to reproductive and gender-affirming 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 gender-affirming 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 gender-affirming 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 gender-affirming care.
- Forbidding insurance companies from discriminating against or penalizing providers who offer reproductive and gender-affirming care.
- Protecting attorneys licensed in Massachusetts from removal or discipline for advising or representing clients on the topics of reproductive or gender-affirming 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 gender-affirming 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 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.
