Senator Lewis and Representatives Ultrino and Lipper-Garabedian vote to strengthen protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care amid threats

State Senator Jason Lewis and State Representatives Steven Ultrino and Kate Lipper-Garabedian joined their colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature to pass the Shield Act 2.0 to fortify protections for those seeking or providing reproductive and gender-affirming care in the Commonwealth. The bill was approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, continuing the Legislature’s commitment to ensuring patients are able to make their own decisions regarding their healthcare. The Shield Act 2.0 was signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on August 7, 2025.

Building off the 2020 ROE Act and the original Shield Act passed in 2022, the Shield Act 2.0 increases privacy protections and safeguards access to reproductive and transgender healthcare in Massachusetts. It prohibits state agencies and law enforcement from cooperating with other states or federal investigations into legally protected reproductive or transgender healthcare provided in Massachusetts, and limits electronic health information that businesses can share. In addition, this legislation adds a layer of protection for patients and providers at a time when attacks on reproductive and transgender rights are escalating on multiple fronts. Challenges include 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.

“The Massachusetts Legislature is committed to upholding our state’s values and protecting our residents from the harmful actions of the Trump administration,” said Senator Lewis. “The Shield Act 2.0 will protect patients, providers, and others from retaliatory attacks and continues to put people’s health before politics in Massachusetts.”

“Massachusetts is sending a clear message that personal health decisions are private, protected, and belong to individuals,” said Representative Ultrino. “This legislation strengthens protections for those seeking care by safeguarding identities, ensuring safety, and defending the healthcare providers who care for them.”

“I am proud to join my colleagues to vote for this crucial bill that reaffirms that the Commonwealth is a safe place for individuals to make their own health care decisions without fear,” said Representative Lipper-Garabedian. “In Massachusetts, we are firm on our strong stance in protecting access to reproductive and gender-affirming care as well as those who provide this care. The Shield Act combats the efforts of the federal administration and other states who disagree with our values, including by protecting patient data and codifying the requirement that hospitals provide stabilizing health services to patients presenting with emergency medical conditions.”

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. To protect patients and providers, the Shield Act 2.0 allows prescriptions to be issued with the name of a healthcare practice rather than an individual practitioner, excludes certain reproductive and gender-affirming medications from the state’s drug monitoring programs and limits 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 Shield Act 2.0 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 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 transgender care
• 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
• Clarifying that Boards of Registration may not take disciplinary actions against practitioners for providing legally protected care; 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
• 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 federal requirements that obligated hospitals to deliver abortion care in emergency cases