House passes bill to strengthen privacy and legal protections for reproductive and gender‑affirming care

On July 9, 2025, the Massachusetts House passed to be engrossed S.2543, "An Act Strengthening Health Care Protections in the Commonwealth," after extended debate and roll‑call votes on multiple amendments.

The bill and its adopted amendments are intended to protect patient data and shield health‑care providers and patients who receive reproductive or gender‑affirming services from out‑of‑state legal actions. Lawmakers described the measure as building on prior state protections enacted since 2011 and updated after major federal developments.

Key provisions adopted in the bill as debated on the House floor include: prohibiting dissemination of personally identifiable data relating to specified health services from state agencies and local authorities; requiring patient consent for companies that maintain electronic medical records before sharing information related to abortion, in‑vitro fertilization (IVF) or gender‑affirming care; empowering the Department of Public Health to remove certain reproductive or gender‑affirming drugs from state prescription monitoring programs; allowing prescribing physicians to request that prescription labels list a practice group rather than an individual clinician for certain treatments; incorporating a federal requirement that hospitals provide stabilizing care for emergency medical conditions; prohibiting professional boards from disciplining practitioners for providing services that are lawful in Massachusetts; and restricting courts from using other states' prohibitions on gender‑affirming care as grounds to alter…