How Many Weeks Is Abortion Legal in Massachusetts?

In Massachusetts, abortion is legal on request through 24 weeks of pregnancy. After 24 weeks, it remains legal only when a licensed physician determines that the procedure is necessary to preserve the patient’s life, to preserve physical or mental health, or that the fetus has a lethal anomaly or a grave diagnosis incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus. There is no mandatory waiting period, no state-required counseling session, and no upper gestational limit when one of the post-24-week medical criteria is met.

Before 24 Weeks

If your pregnancy is at 24 weeks or less, you do not need to meet any additional legal criteria to obtain an abortion. The decision is between you and your provider.

You also have more choices about who provides the care. Since the 2020 ROE Act, abortions before 24 weeks are not limited to physicians. A physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife can perform the procedure so long as it falls within the scope of their professional license.¹

After 24 Weeks

Once a pregnancy reaches 24 weeks, only a licensed physician can perform an abortion, and one of four medical criteria must apply:

The abortion is necessary, in the physician’s best medical judgment, to preserve your life.
The procedure is necessary to preserve your physical or mental health.
A diagnosis indicates a lethal fetal condition.
The fetus has a grave diagnosis indicating it cannot survive outside the uterus without extraordinary medical intervention.

The last two categories are related but distinct. A lethal anomaly means the condition itself is fatal. The fourth covers a fetus that might briefly survive with extreme intervention but has no realistic prospect of sustained life.² In every case, the treating physician’s best medical judgment governs. No hospital committee sign-off or second physician’s approval is required.

The health exception is written broadly on purpose. It covers both physical and mental health, and the statute leaves the determination to the treating physician rather than imposing a checklist.³

The Medication Abortion Window

Medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol is available through 10 weeks of pregnancy under a federal program called the Mifepristone REMS. The prescriber must be certified under that program, and the medication can be dispensed in person or by mail through a certified pharmacy.⁴

Massachusetts permits telehealth consultations for medication abortion, so a video or phone visit with a certified prescriber, followed by pills sent by mail, is a legal option. The FDA advises against buying mifepristone outside the REMS program, including from overseas online pharmacies, because those products bypass the program’s safety monitoring.⁴ Beyond 10 weeks, procedural abortion is the available option.

Rules for Minors

The age at which a minor can consent to their own abortion in Massachusetts is 16. If you are 16 or 17, you can consent to your own care without involving a parent, guardian, or judge.⁵

Under 16, you need written permission from a parent or legal guardian. If that is not possible or not safe, you can petition a court for a judicial bypass. The process is free and confidential, the court will appoint a lawyer for you at no cost, and hearings are prioritized over other cases. A judge grants the bypass if you are sufficiently mature to make the decision or if parental notification is not in your best interest, and a denial can be appealed on an expedited basis. The judicial bypass is available to minors who live outside Massachusetts but seek care in the state.

In a genuine medical emergency, no parental permission or court order is required, regardless of age.⁵

Cost and Insurance Coverage

Massachusetts law requires fully insured health plans issued under state law to cover abortion and abortion-related care with no cost sharing. No copay, no coinsurance, no deductible applied to the service.⁶

That mandate reaches plans regulated by the state Division of Insurance, including commercial insurers and HMOs. It does not automatically extend to self-funded employer plans, which are governed by federal ERISA law. If your employer is large and self-insures, check your plan documents or ask HR whether abortion is a covered benefit.

Paying out of pocket, medication abortion typically runs roughly $300 to $550, and a first-trimester surgical abortion generally falls between $650 and $1,000, with costs rising as gestational age increases. The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund and the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts help patients who qualify cover the gap.

Emergency Care

Federal law under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires hospitals with emergency departments to provide stabilizing treatment to anyone experiencing a medical emergency, including abortion care when that is the medically necessary stabilizing treatment. This applies regardless of ability to pay or insurance status.

Massachusetts reinforces the requirement through Executive Order No. 633, which directs the Department of Public Health to treat a hospital’s failure to provide abortion care in a genuine medical emergency as a regulatory violation that could result in revocation of the hospital’s license.⁷ Individual providers who fail to ensure emergency treatment consistent with state and federal law face potential license discipline. The Shield Act 2.0 codified a parallel requirement that acute care hospitals provide stabilizing services, including abortion care when necessary, to any patient experiencing a medical emergency.⁸

If You Are Traveling From Another State

Abortion legal in Massachusetts is legal for you here even if it would not be legal in your home state, and the state has built protections around that reality. Massachusetts state agencies and law enforcement are prohibited from cooperating with other states’ or federal investigations into reproductive health care that is legal here, and the state’s courts will not enforce another state’s judgment against someone for obtaining a lawful Massachusetts abortion.⁹

A federal HIPAA rule finalized in 2024 adds a records-level protection. Providers, insurers, and clearinghouses are prohibited from disclosing your reproductive health records for the purpose of investigating or penalizing anyone for seeking, obtaining, or providing reproductive care that was lawful where it was delivered. Any law enforcement request for reproductive health records now requires a signed attestation that the request is not for a prohibited purpose, and full compliance with the updated Notice of Privacy Practices requirements is required by February 16, 2026.¹⁰ At the state level, Shield Act 2.0 restricts businesses that handle electronic health information from sharing patient data connected to reproductive care.⁸

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12M – Abortion; Pregnancy Existing for 24 Weeks or Less
2
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12N – Abortion; Pregnancy Existing for 24 Weeks or More
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Session Laws Acts 2020 Chapter 263
4
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Information About Mifepristone for Medical Termination of Pregnancy Through Ten Weeks Gestation
5
Mass.gov. Know Your Rights – Abortion
6
Mass.gov. Frequently Asked Questions About Abortion and Abortion Related Care
7
Mass.gov. No. 633 Protecting Access to Emergency Abortion Care in Massachusetts
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Shield Act 2.0
9
General Court of Massachusetts. Session Laws Acts 2022 Chapter 127
10
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. HIPAA Privacy Rule Final Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy Fact Sheet