Opponents of Massachusetts’ new abortion law say they have collected about 97,000 signatures to put it before voters in November 2028, nearly twice the number the state constitution requires to suspend the law until then. The Compassionate Care Coalition, led by Massachusetts Citizens for Life and Massachusetts Family Action, announced the count at the State House on Thursday, October 29, 2026, and delivered boxes of signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office, the State House News Service and the Boston Herald reported. The law takes effect November 8. Whether it is paused on that date now depends on two things: Galvin’s count and Gov. Maura Healey.
Healey signed the law, Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2026, on August 10. Under the constitution, she can declare it an emergency law at any time before the 2028 vote. That would let it take effect without suspension, or end a suspension already in place. Here is how the process works, and what each side has said.
What happened Thursday
- The count. The coalition said it collected 97,276 signatures, already certified by local clerks, the News Service reported. The Herald reported “over 97,000.” OSV News, a Catholic news service, reported a tally of 99,962 and quoted coalition chair Sam Miele saying the total does not include signatures still being counted.
- The threshold. Suspending the law requires 49,716 certified signatures, the Herald and the News Service reported. That is 2 percent of the votes cast for governor in 2022.
- The state’s count comes later. A Galvin spokesperson said the office does not plan to start counting and certifying the signatures until November 6, the coalition’s deadline to file, the News Service reported.
- The ask. “Maura Healey, I call on you to have the faith and the courage to allow the people and to trust the people that you represent,” Miele said, according to OSV News. The coalition urged Healey not to attach an emergency preamble, the Herald reported.
What the law changed
The law removed four criteria from state statute that governed when an abortion could be performed later in pregnancy, and gives deference to providers’ medical judgment, the News Service reported. According to the Herald, providers can grant abortions after 24 weeks in cases of risk to the patient’s life or to the patient’s physical or mental health, a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis, or a grave fetal diagnosis indicating the need for extraordinary medical intervention to sustain life. The House passed it 119 to 33 on July 22, and the Senate passed it on a voice vote on July 31, the News Service reported. Our earlier explainer on the law and its effective date.
The law: how a referendum suspends a statute
The procedure comes from Article 48 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, the part headed “The Referendum,” as amended by Article 81. We read the text at malegislature.gov.
- The 90-day wait. “No law passed by the general court shall take effect earlier than ninety days after it has become a law, excepting laws declared to be emergency laws.” Ninety days after August 10 is November 8.
- Suspension. If a petition is completed “not later than ninety days after the law which is the subject of the petition has become law” with signatures equal to “not less than two per cent of the entire vote cast for governor at the preceding biennial state election, then the operation of such law shall be suspended.”
- Why 2028, not next week. The secretary submits the law to voters at the next state election “if sixty days intervene” between the filing and the election. If not, it goes to “the next following state election.” A petition filed in November 2026 is too close to the November 3 election, so the question would go on the 2028 ballot.
- The lower threshold. A petition that does not ask for suspension needs 1.5 percent of the last vote for governor,, and the law takes effect while the referendum is pending.
- What a 2028 vote would decide. If voters approve the law by a majority, it takes effect 30 days after the election. If not, “such law shall be null and void.” There is one more condition: “no such law shall be held to be disapproved if the negative vote is less than thirty per cent of the total number of ballots cast at such state election.” So repeal needs a majority of the votes on the question and no votes equal to at least 30 percent of everyone who casts a ballot.
The governor’s emergency declaration
Article 48 gives the governor a way around suspension. If the governor, “at any time before the election at which it is to be submitted to the people on referendum,” files with the secretary a statement that “the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or convenience requires that such law should take effect forthwith,” setting out “the facts constituting the emergency,” then the law “shall take effect without suspension, or if such law has been so suspended such suspension shall thereupon terminate and such law shall thereupon take effect.”
A declaration does not cancel the referendum. Article 48 separately allows a referendum petition on “the repeal of an emergency law,” so the question could still reach voters in 2028. What the declaration changes is whether the law is in force in the meantime.
Healey has done this before. She attached an emergency declaration to the 2024 gun law, which is now the subject of the repeal vote in Question 9 on next Tuesday’s ballot, the News Service reported. What that law does.
What Healey and the law’s supporters said
- The governor’s office. “The Governor continues to monitor the referendum process and evaluate options,” Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand told the Herald. “This law is for parents facing some of the most painful and devastating circumstances imaginable and making sure these decisions are made between a woman and her doctor.”
- Reproductive Equity Now. “This referendum effort is part of a broader national anti-abortion campaign working state by state to roll back reproductive freedom,” said Kathleen Melendy, the group’s Massachusetts state director, according to the News Service. She said the law “responds to the realities patients and providers are facing and ensures patients can access compassionate care here at home.”
- The governor’s race. Republican nominee Mike Minogue identifies as Catholic and “pro life” but has said he would uphold state law, the News Service reported.
What happens next
- November 3. The state election. The abortion law is not on this year’s ballot.
- November 6. The coalition’s deadline to file certified signatures with Galvin, who will then count them.
- November 8. The law’s scheduled effective date. If enough signatures are certified and there is no emergency declaration, the law would be suspended until the 2028 vote.
- Any time before November 2028. Healey can file an emergency declaration, which would let the law take effect or end a suspension.
Frequently asked questions
Will the Massachusetts abortion law be on the 2026 ballot?
No. Under Article 48, a referendum goes to the next state election only if 60 days separate the petition filing from the election. The petition is due November 6, 2026, so the question would appear on the November 2028 ballot.
Has the new abortion law been suspended?
Not yet. The coalition says it has about 97,000 signatures, and 49,716 certified signatures are needed to suspend it. Secretary of State William Galvin’s office plans to begin counting after the November 6 filing deadline. The law is scheduled to take effect November 8.
Can Governor Healey stop the suspension?
Yes. The constitution lets the governor file an emergency declaration at any time before the referendum vote. The law would then take effect without suspension, or a suspension already in place would end. Healey’s office says she “continues to monitor the referendum process and evaluate options.”
What would it take to repeal the law in 2028?
A majority voting against the law, and those no votes must equal at least 30 percent of all ballots cast in that election.
Sources: State House News Service (as published by New Bedford Guide), Boston Herald and OSV News, October 29, 2026. Signature counts are the coalition’s and have not been certified by the Secretary of State. Mass. Const. Amend. art. 48, The Referendum, parts I, II and III, as amended by art. 81, read at malegislature.gov. General information, not legal advice.