Daughter of God Discipleship

08/18/2026

CAN YOU BE BORN IN THE WRONG BODY—OR DID GOD MAKE A MISTAKE?

We have reached a point where telling someone the truth is called hatred, while affirming everything they feel is called love.

But truth does not change because it hurts our feelings.

You can reject God.

You can deny God.

You can spend your entire life saying there is no God.

He is still God.

Your unbelief does not dethrone Him.

Your feelings do not redefine His creation.

And culture does not get to rewrite an order it did not create.

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” — Genesis 1:27 NKJV

God did not ask society to define male and female.

He already did.

And no, that doesn't mean gender dysphoria isn't real.

Gender dysphoria describes real psychological distress associated with an incongruence between someone's experienced gender and their s*x. That person may have experienced those feelings for years. Their distress may be profound.

But the existence of a real struggle does not automatically make the conclusion drawn from that struggle true.

If tomorrow I became completely convinced that I was supposed to be a dog, and I told you, “I've known since childhood. I've always felt this way. This is who I truly am,” my feelings could be sincere.

But sincerity wouldn't make me a dog.

I would still be human.

No, believing yourself to be another species and gender dysphoria are not the same clinical condition. That's not the comparison.

The point is this:

A feeling does not become truth simply because it is deep, painful, sincere, or lifelong.

And we need to stop confusing what God created with what the Fall produced.

People say:

“If God created me, then God made me this way.”

Not everything you experience came from God's original design.

God created a world that He called “very good.”

Then came Genesis 3.

Sin entered.

Death entered.

Disease entered.

Disorder entered.

Human desires became corrupted.

Creation itself became broken.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” — Romans 8:22 NKJV

So no, “I was born with it” does not automatically equal “God designed it.”

We were ALL born into a fallen creation.

That's why Jesus never preached:

“Discover yourself.”

He said:

DENY YOURSELF.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” — Matthew 16:24 NKJV

That Scripture isn't only for transgender people.

It's for the heteros*xual person sleeping with somebody they're not married to.

It's for the married person entertaining lust.

It's for the addict.

It's for the prideful.

It's for the greedy.

It's for the bitter.

It's for me.

It's for you.

Nobody gets a private exemption from surrender because their struggle feels natural.

And somewhere along the way, society decided that compassion means affirmation.

It doesn't.

I can acknowledge your pain without calling everything you believe about that pain true.

I can defend your dignity without surrendering God's Word.

I can love you without agreeing with you.

And Christians, God has something to say to us too.

Some of you are defending biblical s*xuality with completely unbiblical behavior.

You're mocking people.

Humiliating them.

Calling them names.

Looking at another human being with disgust.

Getting into screaming matches online and calling it “standing for God.”

No.

Your flesh doesn't become holy because you attached a Bible verse to it.

The same God who said male and female also commanded you:

“But, speaking the truth in love…” — Ephesians 4:15 NKJV

And:

“A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all…” — 2 Timothy 2:24 NKJV

If you're defending God's truth while behaving nothing like the God you're supposedly representing, check your own heart.

Being set apart means we don't bow to culture.

But it ALSO means we don't behave like culture.

We don't compromise.

We don't harass.

We don't affirm what God calls us to surrender.

And we don't treat struggling people like garbage.

Truth without holiness in the messenger becomes hypocrisy.

But here's where culture needs correction too:

You are not entitled to everybody's agreement.

Someone disagreeing with your identity does not automatically mean they hate you.

Someone refusing to change their convictions to protect your feelings is not automatically attacking you.

We've created a culture where people are told:

“Affirm me or you're harming me.”

But love has never required lying.

If I have to deny what God said in order to prove that I love you, you aren't asking me for love. You're asking me for agreement.

Those are not the same thing.

And let's kill another phrase while we're here:

“My truth.”

There is no my truth and your truth when we're talking about what is actually true.

There are perspectives.

There are feelings.

There are experiences.

There are beliefs.

But truth belongs to God.

Jesus prayed:

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” — John 17:17 NKJV

God's Word does not become truth when you accept it.

It was truth before you were born.

It will be truth after you die.

Culture can change.

Language can change.

Laws can change.

Public opinion can change.

God does not.

Maybe you don't believe Scripture.

Read it anyway.

Maybe you think Christianity is foolish.

Read it anyway.

Maybe this entire post makes you angry.

Read the Word anyway.

Because I'm not responsible for forcing you to believe.

I'm responsible for planting.

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” — 1 Corinthians 3:6 NKJV

I cannot save you.

I cannot convict you.

I cannot make you surrender.

That's God's territory.

But I will not hide His Word because the generation I'm living in has decided His truth is offensive.

And I will not use His Word as an excuse to hate the very people who need to encounter Him.

So can you be born in the wrong body?

Or did God make a mistake?

God does not make mistakes.

Our fallen world is broken.

Our feelings can be powerful.

Our struggles can be real.

But God remains God.

And eventually every one of us, transgender, straight, gay, married, single, believer, unbeliever, preacher, addict, skeptic, has to face the same question:

Will I demand that God conform to me?

Or will I surrender myself to Him?

“Let God be true but every man a liar.” — Romans 3:4 NKJV

08/13/2026

🔥 HOMOSEXUALITY ISN’T THE ONLY SEXUAL SIN: WHY DID THE CHURCH GET SO QUIET ABOUT FORNICATION?

Church, we need to stop being selective about s*xual sin.

We have gotten LOUD about homos*xuality while becoming strangely quiet about fornication, adultery, po*******hy, lust, and the s*xual immorality happening right inside the Church.

We'll boldly tell the world:

“God has a standard for s*x.”

Good.

THEN LET'S PREACH THE WHOLE STANDARD.

Fornication is s*xual immorality.

Adultery is s*xual immorality.

Same-s*x s*xual relations are s*xual immorality.

Po*******hy and lust violate God's standard of s*xual purity.

And being heteros*xual does NOT automatically make your s*xual relationship holy.

If you're unmarried and sleeping with your boyfriend, God's standard doesn't change because you're in love.

If you're unmarried and sleeping with your girlfriend, God's standard doesn't change because you've been together for years.

If you're engaged and having s*x, an engagement ring isn't a marriage covenant.

If you're living together and functioning s*xually as husband and wife without being married, calling yourselves “basically married” doesn't make you married.

Church, why are we screaming about the s*xual sins happening outside while whispering about the s*xual sins happening inside?

Hebrews 13:4 says:

“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

And 1 Corinthians 6:18 doesn't say:

“Manage s*xual immorality.”

“Try not to overdo it.”

“It's okay if you're committed.”

“It's okay if you're getting married eventually.”

It says:

“FLEE SEXUAL IMMORALITY.”

AND LOOK AT THE CULTURE WE'RE BEING DISCIPLED BY.

“It's just s*x.”

“Do what makes you happy.”

“Your body, your choice.”

“You only live once.”

“Explore yourself.”

“Live your truth.”

Women are being sold the idea that s*xual liberation automatically equals empowerment.

Men are being taught that collecting s*xual partners is an accomplishment, po*******hy is normal, lust is harmless, and commitment can wait.

Music glorifies it.

Entertainment normalizes it.

Social media sells it.

Influencers package it as freedom.

And then we act surprised when s*xual restraint becomes abnormal.

There are real-world consequences to America's s*xual behavior.

Among s*xually active U.S. high-school students surveyed in 2023, 48% reported not using a condom during their last s*xual in*******se.

Young people ages 15–24 account for nearly half of new s*xually transmitted infections each year.

And in 2024, the United States still reported more than 2.2 MILLION cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.

Congenital syphilis—when syphilis is transmitted during pregnancy—has risen dramatically over the past decade.

Now, let's be responsible with those facts:

Those statistics do not mean fornication caused every STI. Married people can contract infections, transmission circumstances differ, and s*xual-health statistics have multiple causes.

But what they DO show is that the s*xual culture we've normalized is not consequence-free.

And while culture is screaming:

“SEX WITHOUT BOUNDARIES IS FREEDOM!”

God has been telling us all along that s*xual boundaries exist for a reason.

BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE FOR THE CHURCH.

Somebody will say:

“Who are you to judge?”

Let's actually read what Scripture says.

1 Corinthians 5:12–13:

“For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges.”

PAUL SAID THAT.

There is a biblical distinction between how we approach the world and how we hold professing believers accountable.

I'm not expecting somebody who rejects Jesus to live according to Jesus.

But if you profess CHRIST, then the Church absolutely has a responsibility to call you back to the standard of CHRIST.

That doesn't give us permission to humiliate people.

It doesn't give us permission to gossip.

It doesn't give us permission to become self-righteous.

It doesn't mean we expose everybody's private struggles.

And it certainly doesn't mean the person correcting someone else is sinless.

Matthew 7:3–5 tells us to deal with the plank in our own eye FIRST so we can see clearly to help our brother with the speck in his.

Jesus didn't say:

“Ignore the speck.”

He confronted hypocrisy.

And Galatians 6:1 tells believers to restore someone caught in sin with gentleness, while watching ourselves because we can be tempted too.

So YES:

CORRECT WITH LOVE.

But somewhere along the way, Christians started believing that love means silence.

It doesn't.

Correction without love can become cruelty.

But so-called “love” that requires us to pretend God's Word doesn't say what it says becomes compromise.

AND LET'S CLEAR SOMETHING ELSE UP:

STRUGGLING WITH SIN IS NOT THE SAME AS MAKING PEACE WITH SIN.

A Christian can struggle.

A Christian can fall.

A Christian can stumble repeatedly.

A Christian can have s*xual temptations.

A Christian can need accountability.

A Christian can desperately need God's grace while fighting the same weakness again and again.

Sanctification is not instantaneous perfection.

But there is a HUGE difference between:

“God, I'm struggling. Help me obey You.”

and

“God, I'm going to continue doing this, and I'm going to reinterpret Your Word so I don't have to repent.”

One is a battle.

The other is surrendering to the sin.

And Church, we need to stop confusing the two.

DO NOT MISTAKE GOD'S PATIENCE FOR GOD'S PERMISSION.

Romans 2:4 teaches that God's goodness is intended to lead us to REPENTANCE.

God giving you another morning doesn't mean He approved of what happened last night.

God hasn't changed His standard because judgment wasn't immediate.

God giving us time is MERCY.

It's an opportunity to REPENT.

And please stop turning grace into something God never intended it to be.

GRACE IS NOT A LICENSE TO SIN.

Romans 6:1–2 asks:

“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

Paul's answer?

“CERTAINLY NOT!”

Jesus didn't save us so we could comfortably remain enslaved to the very things He came to deliver us from.

And THIS is where “come as you are” gets twisted.

Yes.

COME AS YOU ARE.

Come s*xually broken.

Come addicted.

Come ashamed.

Come confused.

Come with your history.

Come with the things nobody knows about.

Come with the mess.

YOU DO NOT CLEAN YOURSELF UP BEFORE COMING TO CHRIST.

Salvation is by grace through faith.

But don't turn:

“Come as you are”

into:

“Stay as you are.”

Titus 2:11–12 says the same grace that brings salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.

Grace forgives you AND begins transforming you.

And 1 Corinthians 6 gives one of the most beautiful statements in this entire conversation.

After listing different sinful lifestyles, Paul tells believers:

“And such WERE some of you.” — 1 Corinthians 6:11

WERE.

There is hope.

There is forgiveness.

There is cleansing.

There is transformation.

There is freedom.

Your s*xual past doesn't disqualify you from Christ.

But Christ also doesn't call you to build a permanent home in what He is calling you out of.

SO BEFORE WE POINT AT THE WORLD, LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

Before we scream about homos*xuality:

Are we confronting fornication?

Before we preach God's design for marriage:

Are we sleeping with people we're not married to?

Before we condemn somebody else's s*xual immorality:

Are we secretly consuming po*******hy?

Before we tell the world God's Word doesn't change:

Are we changing it whenever it confronts something WE don't want to surrender?

That's the hypocrisy we need to deal with.

Because culture changes.

Music changes.

Generations change.

S*xual norms change.

Political parties change.

Public opinion changes.

GOD DOES NOT.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” — Hebrews 13:8

God does not need to update His holiness to accommodate 2026.

And Christianity is not standing on a fence with one foot following Jesus and the other following whatever culture currently celebrates.

Eventually, God's Word is going to confront something YOU LOVE.

Something I LOVE.

Something we don't want to surrender.

And that's when we find out whether Scripture is actually our authority or whether Scripture is only our authority when we already agree with it.

So here's my question for every professing Christian, INCLUDING ME:

When God's Word confronts my lifestyle, am I willing to surrender my lifestyle to God's Word or will I twist God's Word until it gives me permission to keep what I don't want to surrender?

Church, stop being selective about s*xual holiness.

Stop screaming about their sin while making excuses for ours.

Stop confusing conviction with hatred.

Stop confusing compromise with compassion.

Stop confusing God's patience with permission.

And stop using grace as permission to remain comfortable in deliberate sin.

THE WORLD NEEDS THE GOSPEL.

THE CHURCH NEEDS ACCOUNTABILITY.

AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US NEEDS REPENTANCE.

If we're going to preach God's standard...

THEN CHURCH, LET'S PREACH THE WHOLE THING.

08/12/2026

WHEN DID A BABY’S LIFE BECOME NEGOTIABLE?

There are moments when silence stops being neutrality.

There are moments when the Church has to decide whether we will allow culture to shape our convictions or allow the Word of God to confront culture.

Abortion is one of those moments.

Before going any further, I need to make one thing clear: I have had an abortion.

I remember hearing my baby's heartbeat at approximately eight weeks pregnant. Under pressure from circumstances and people around me, I still chose abortion.

When I later came to know God, I came to understand that decision differently. I repented. I believe I participated in taking the life of my unborn child, and I believe God forgave me through Jesus Christ.

«“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9»

I share that for one reason:

What follows is not being written from a pedestal.

It is possible to call something wrong without believing yourself morally superior to the people who have done it.

It is possible to repent of something and then speak against it.

And it is possible to tell the truth about sin while simultaneously proclaiming the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Now we need to talk about what is happening in America.

---

WHAT MASSACHUSETTS JUST DID SHOULD WAKE US UP

On August 10, 2026, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed legislation significantly changing the state's abortion law after 24 weeks.

Previously, Massachusetts specifically identified circumstances permitting abortion at 24 weeks or later, including protecting the pregnant patient's life or physical or mental health and certain serious fetal diagnoses.

The new legislation removed those enumerated circumstances and allows an abortion after 24 weeks to be performed by a physician based upon the physician's professional judgment.

Twenty-four weeks.

Approximately six months into pregnancy.

We need to stop allowing sterile political language to prevent us from considering who exists inside that womb at six months.

---

LOOK AT THE CHILD

At approximately 25 weeks, the heart is beating.

The brain and nervous system are rapidly developing.

There are arms and legs.

Hands and feet.

Fingers and toes.

Recognizable facial features.

Movement.

Responses to stimulation and sound.

The lungs and brain are still immature and substantial development remains.

But development is not the same thing as humanity.

Most importantly, babies born at approximately 25 weeks can survive outside the womb with neonatal intensive care.

Consider what that means.

A baby is delivered prematurely at 25 weeks.

Immediately, physicians begin trying to save that child's life.

NICU nurses work around the clock.

Machines may help the baby breathe.

Feeding tubes may provide nutrition.

Parents may spend months standing beside an incubator praying that their child survives.

Nobody walks into that NICU and says:

“That's just a pregnancy.”

They see a premature baby.

They fight for that baby's life.

So we have to confront an extraordinarily uncomfortable question:

Why should that child's location determine whether his or her life deserves protection?

Inside the womb.

Outside the womb.

THE LOCATION CHANGED.

THE HUMANITY DID NOT.

---

MASSACHUSETTS IS NOT ALONE

This conversation extends far beyond Massachusetts.

According to KFF's tracking of state abortion laws, nine states plus Washington, D.C. have been classified as having no statutory gestational limit on abortion:

Alaska
Colorado
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
New Jersey
New Mexico
Oregon
Vermont
Washington, D.C.

Accuracy matters here.

Having no statutory gestational limit does not mean every physician will perform an elective abortion at 38 or 39 weeks.

Provider availability, professional standards, medical judgment, hospital policies and individual circumstances still matter.

We do not have to exaggerate the law.

The reality is serious enough.

When a jurisdiction refuses to establish a specific gestational cutoff, Christians should be willing to ask:

At what point does government recognize that another human life is present and deserves protection?

---

AND CALIFORNIA IS NOT EXEMPT

California is not legally identical to jurisdictions without a statutory gestational limit.

California protects abortion before fetal viability and permits abortion after viability when necessary to protect the pregnant person's life or health.

But acknowledging that distinction doesn't require agreement with California's standard.

We should be able to accurately describe a law and still morally oppose it.

For Christians, morality does not originate in Sacramento.

It doesn't originate in Boston.

It doesn't originate in Washington, D.C.

GOD DOES NOT NEED GOVERNMENT'S PERMISSION TO DEFINE RIGHT AND WRONG.

---

“BUT WHAT ABOUT R**E AND IN**ST?”

These words enter almost every abortion conversation.

They should.

Because r**e is evil.

In**st is evil.

S*xual abuse of children is evil.

A woman who becomes pregnant through r**e did not choose the s*xual act that resulted in that pregnancy.

She did not fornicate.

She was violated.

She deserves justice, medical care, protection, compassion, support, and people willing to walk beside her through circumstances she never chose.

Predators should be exposed.

Rapists should be prosecuted.

Children should be protected.

Churches should never hide s*xual abuse to protect reputations.

But if r**e and in**st are going to become the centerpiece of the broader abortion argument, then we also have to look honestly at the available numbers.

One major U.S. study examining women's reported reasons for obtaining abortions found:

APPROXIMATELY 1% REPORTED R**E.

LESS THAN 0.5% REPORTED IN**ST.

Those figures come from 2004 data.

They should not be dishonestly presented as though researchers surveyed every abortion patient in America in 2026.

But they establish something important:

R**e and in**st have not historically represented anything remotely approaching the majority of reported reasons for abortion.

So yes—talk about r**e.

Talk about in**st.

Protect survivors.

Expose predators.

But don't use the most horrific circumstances imaginable to prevent us from discussing pregnancies resulting from consensual s*x.

Because that conversation requires something our culture increasingly rejects:

RESPONSIBILITY.

---

73 MILLION ABORTIONS A YEAR

According to the World Health Organization, approximately:

73 MILLION

induced abortions occur worldwide every year.

WHO also estimates that approximately six out of ten unintended pregnancies end in induced abortion.

Some involve adolescents.

Some involve s*xual violence.

Some involve devastating medical circumstances.

Those realities matter.

But they cannot explain abortion as a whole.

Eventually, we have to ask what kind of culture simultaneously celebrates unrestricted s*xual behavior while treating the human life that can result from s*x as an unwanted consequence that may be eliminated.

---

WE NORMALIZED FORNICATION AND REJECTED RESPONSIBILITY

This is where Christians cannot allow culture to disciple us.

God created s*x.

God established its boundaries.

«“Flee s*xual immorality.”

1 Corinthians 6:18»

S*x itself is not sinful.

S*x is God's creation.

But Scripture places s*xual intimacy within the covenant of marriage.

Our culture has normalized fornication, casual s*x, s*x without covenant, and s*x without commitment.

Then when the biological act capable of creating human life creates human life, society acts as though an injustice has occurred against the adults involved.

Pregnancy is not some unrelated punishment attached to s*x.

Human reproduction is biologically connected to s*xual in*******se.

Of course contraception can fail.

Of course pregnancies can be unintended.

Of course circumstances can become frightening.

Financial problems are real.

Broken relationships are real.

Fear is real.

But none of those circumstances answer the fundamental question:

WHAT IS THE UNBORN CHILD?

Because if that child is a developing human being, then hardship cannot erase that reality.

Financial hardship doesn't change humanity.

Bad timing doesn't change humanity.

Being unmarried doesn't change humanity.

An absent father doesn't change humanity.

Already having children doesn't change humanity.

Being unwanted doesn't change humanity.

Human worth cannot depend upon whether another person finds your existence convenient.

---

MEN ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM THIS REBUKE

Women do not create pregnancies by themselves.

If we're going to confront s*xual immorality and irresponsibility, men need to hear the exact same rebuke.

Stop sleeping with women you aren't married to and then acting as though pregnancy is solely her responsibility.

Stop creating children and disappearing.

Stop pressuring women toward abortion because fatherhood interferes with your plans.

Stop saying:

“It's her choice.”

when what you actually mean is:

“I don't want responsibility for the life I helped create.”

If women are called to s*xual purity, men are called to s*xual purity.

If women have responsibilities toward their children, fathers have responsibilities toward their children.

God's standard does not disappear because responsibility became inconvenient.

---

CHURCH, WE DON'T GET TO POINT WITHOUT HELPING

And this rebuke cannot stop with abortion providers, politicians, women, or men.

It has to reach the Church.

Because Christians cannot stand outside abortion clinics shouting:

“Choose life!”

and then disappear when a frightened woman chooses it.

If we're serious about protecting life:

SHOW UP.

Help the pregnant teenager.

Help the single mother.

Walk beside the r**e survivor.

Buy diapers.

Bring groceries.

Help with childcare.

Help women find housing.

Help mothers finish school.

Support adoption.

Support foster families.

Hold fathers accountable.

Give money.

Give time.

Open church resources.

Stay when helping becomes inconvenient.

Being pro-life should cost us something.

If we're telling a woman that the baby inside her has tremendous value, then our actions should demonstrate that she has tremendous value too.

---

AND TO THE WOMAN WHO HAS ALREADY HAD AN ABORTION

This is where truth without the Gospel would become condemnation.

Abortion is not beyond the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Maybe you carry regret.

Maybe nobody knows.

Maybe you have spent years refusing to think about what happened.

God already knows.

And hiding from Him will never heal what only He can redeem.

«“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow.”

Isaiah 1:18»

The answer isn't pretending sin wasn't sin.

THE ANSWER IS REPENTANCE.

And repentance does not end in hopelessness.

It leads us to Christ.

There is forgiveness.

There is mercy.

There is cleansing.

There is restoration.

There is no abortion so powerful that it makes the blood of Jesus powerless.

So don't run from God.

RUN TO HIM.

---

CHURCH, THIS IS A WAKE-UP CALL

Massachusetts should wake us up.

California should wake us up.

Seventy-three million abortions worldwide every year should wake us up.

But we cannot merely become angry at politicians.

We have to examine ourselves.

Where have we normalized what God calls sin?

Where have we become silent because speaking truth became socially dangerous?

Where have we condemned sinners without offering them the Gospel?

Where have we preached s*xual purity to women while allowing men to escape accountability?

Where have we demanded that mothers choose life while refusing to help them sustain it?

And where have we allowed political terminology to make us forget that pregnancy involves another developing human life?

The Church does not need more outrage without obedience.

WE NEED REPENTANCE.

We need holiness.

We need courage.

We need compassion.

We need truth.

And we desperately need the Gospel.

Because this isn't ultimately about Massachusetts.

It isn't ultimately about California.

It isn't ultimately about Republicans or Democrats.

It is about whether human beings get to redefine the value of human life according to convenience, circumstances, development, dependency, or location.

The question is not merely:

“What does the law permit?”

The question Christians must eventually confront is:

“WHAT DOES GOD CALL RIGHT?”

And when God's answer conflicts with our culture, our politics, our s*xuality, our past, or our preferences—

God does not need to change.

WE DO.

SOURCES & TRANSPARENCY

A note to my readers: I don't want you to simply take my word for the statistics, medical information, or laws discussed in this article. My moral and biblical conclusions are my convictions, but the factual claims I've referenced should be open to examination. Below are the sources used so you can read them for yourself, examine the context, and come to an informed understanding of what these laws and statistics actually say.

Massachusetts — August 2026 Abortion Law Change

Official Massachusetts government information regarding the legislation signed by Governor Maura Healey on August 10, 2026.

Massachusetts Government — Governor Healey Signs Legislation Strengthening Abortion Protections
https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-signs-legislation-strengthening-abortion-protections-in-massachusetts

Massachusetts — Legislative Language

The Massachusetts Legislature's actual legislative language concerning abortion after 24 weeks and the physician's “professional judgment” standard.

Massachusetts Legislature — H.2370 Legislative Language
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/GetAmendmentContent/194/H2370/1/House/Content

State-by-State Gestational Limits

KFF's state-by-state information used to compare abortion gestational limits and exceptions throughout the United States.

KFF — Abortion Policy: Gestational Limits and Exceptions
https://www.kff.org/state-health-policy-data/state-indicator/gestational-limit-abortions/

California Abortion Law

California's own explanation of when abortion is legally permitted, including its viability standard and post-viability exceptions.

California Department of Public Health — Your Legal Right to an Abortion
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OHE/abortion/Pages/your-rights/your-legal-right-to-an-abortion.aspx

Reasons for Abortions — R**e & In**st

The study referenced for the finding that approximately 1% reported r**e and less than 0.5% reported in**st as reasons for abortion. These data are from 2004, which is why that limitation is specifically acknowledged in the article.

Guttmacher Institute — Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives
https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives

Worldwide Abortion Statistics

The World Health Organization source for the estimate of approximately 73 million induced abortions worldwide each year and the estimate that six out of ten unintended pregnancies end in induced abortion.

World Health Organization — Abortion Fact Sheet
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion

Pregnancy & Fetal Development

Medical information regarding fetal development throughout pregnancy.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — How Your Fetus Grows During Pregnancy
https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/how-your-fetus-grows-during-pregnancy

Survival Around 25 Weeks

Medical information regarding extremely premature/periviable birth, including survival outcomes at approximately 25 weeks.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — Periviable Birth
https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/obstetric-care-consensus/articles/2017/10/periviable-birth

I encourage you to read the sources themselves, not merely headlines, social-media posts, or even my interpretation of them. Truth does not need us to manipulate evidence in order to defend it.

New law ensures patients facing serious pregnancy complications can receive medically appropriate care from trusted providers in Massachusetts