BOSTON, Mass.
— When does abortion become legal in Massachusetts?
That is the question on everyone’s mind in the state’s capital as the Supreme Judicial Court considers whether to overturn a law that bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The justices, a conservative bloc of four conservatives, are considering whether to reinstate a Massachusetts law that has been in place since 2006.
The law allows abortions after 24 weeks of gestation, which was the standard in the nation’s capital for the first time last year.
The justices are expected to rule on the case Monday.
The law, which has been upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Supreme Court, bans most of the most common types of abortions, including the procedure known as in-vitro fertilization, in which a fertilized egg is removed from a woman’s uterus.
Abortion rights advocates have said the law is discriminatory against poor women and the poor.
Supporters of the law say it helps ensure women’s health and that the law serves as a way to limit abortions after the point when most women would consider abortion risky.
Opponents argue that the state is overstepping its bounds by banning abortions before viability.
The Massachusetts law, enacted in response to the Roe v.
Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in 1973, requires that abortions be performed only at the doctor’s discretion, within the same hospital or clinic that performs them and after consulting with the woman’s health care provider.
A doctor must also perform the procedure in an enclosed space, such as a hospital ward.
The state is considering two other abortion restrictions, one that bans abortions after fetal viability and another that prohibits abortions after 19 weeks of a pregnancy.
In its appeal, the state argued that the Supreme Supreme Judicial court’s 2013 ruling upholding the 20-week limit was not legally binding.
The court is set to consider the question when the justices meet Tuesday.
