More cold air has moved into New England this morning. While we didn’t feel its pinch last night, it will muffle any attempts at a warmup today with a gusty northwest wind. Wind chills turn from cold to frigid after sunset. If you’re stepping out this…
Massachusetts
‘I have to do something’: Pregnant DoorDash driver helped girl injured in Foxborough crash
A pregnant DoorDash driver rushed into action after encountering a crash between an ambulance and an SUV in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
It was a horrific head-on collision that Jamie Jarvis came up upon shortly after making a food delivery Thursday …
Alabama embryo ruling raises concerns for IVF availability across the country
One week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are considered children under state law, the decision is putting the future of IVF treatments at risk.
While clinics in Alabama start to pause fertility treatments as a result of the decision, patients in Massachusetts said they are concerned about what could come next.
“The last few days, I just keep thinking about it constantly. I am concerned tremendously,” Rebecca Schauer said.
Schauer conceived her first child though IVF two years ago. She has four other frozen embryos stored at Boston IVF and said the ruling has her worried about the impact on her family-planning.
“It really is just total confusion, total panic,” Schauer said.
Boston IVF said all treatments, including embryo storage, remain unaffected, but advocates fear that could change if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with the Alabama decision. Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said she does.
“To me, embryos are babies,” Haley told NBC News.
Meanwhile, GOP frontrunner and former President Donald Trump has voiced support for IVF and called on Alabama lawmakers “to find an immediate solution to preserve” the services’ availability in the state.
Democratic President Joe Biden ripped the ruling as a “direct result” of the Supreme Court’s decision to roll back abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said. “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”
In Massachusetts, advocates for reproductive rights said the ruling is a wake-up call.
“I think finding an embryo to be a legal child is just such an unforeseen next step, and the consequences could be very broad,” said Polly Crozier, the director of family advocacy at GLAD.
Crozier said while she hopes Massachusetts continues to be a beacon for fertility treatment, the war on reproductive rights could have consequences everywhere.
“It’s cause for pause for every American to understand that we’re treading in really dangerous ground,” Crozier said. “Nothing is only in one state at this point.”
More on the Alabama ruling
In a statement, Rebecca Hart Holder, the president of Reproductive Equity Now, also blasted the decision.
“Not only does this ruling put IVF and family planning at risk in Alabama, but it paves the way for the far-right’s use of ‘fetal personhood’ statutes, which can and will be used to broadly restrict access to abortion, contraception, and assisted reproduction nationwide,” Hart Holder said.
Schauer said she is not only worried about her embryos, but also concerned it will make the path to parenthood for so many others even more challenging.
“I hope that Massachusetts is progressive enough and my rights are safe here, but you just never know,” Schauer said.
Andrea Joy Campbell reflects on first year as Mass. attorney general
NBC10 Boston caught up with Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell after her first year in office.
Becoming the first Black woman to win a statewide election in 2022, Campbell was sworn in Jan. 18, 2023.
“It really hit me when I came in as AG-elect and saw the wall,” Campbell said. “We go really far back, centuries of white men who held this position.”
Campbell recently filed a lawsuit against a white nationalist group, accusing it and two of its leaders of engaging “in violent, threatening, and intimidating conduct that violated state civil rights laws and unlawfully interfered with public safety.”
In the interview, Campbell touched on the role of an attorney general in combatting hate.
“The very things we take for granted for a civilized society, the divisiveness we’re seeing in this country, the uptick in hate and white supremacy, everything having to do with affordability,” she said. “There is a central and significant role this office plays in addressing all of that. That is very distinct and unique.”
The attorney general said her top priorities right now relate to the affordability of everything from housing and utilities to health care.
Campbell also talked about her approach to work.
“Everyone should take a break in the middle of the day — get away from a desk if you can,” she said. “Turn your brain off for a moment, you’re more productive in the latter part of the day. Exercise, we know, is good for the mental health.”
Watch the full interview with Campbell in the above video.
2 injured in Dorchester stabbing
Two people were stabbed Friday in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, police said.
Officers responded to the incident on Floyd Street.
Both people’s injuries are considered non-life-threatening, police said.
Authorities did not say …
Man arrested in deadly Charlestown hit-and-run crash near Encore
A man was arrested in a deadly December hit-and-run in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood, near the Encore casino, on Friday, police said.
Jaydon A. Colon, 22, was arrested on Carter Street in Chelsea Friday morning at 7:45, local police said…