Healey Seeks $2 Million for 68,000 Massachusetts Postpartum Visits as 'Big Sister' Criticism Revives
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 23
Healey Seeks $2 Million for 68,000 Massachusetts Postpartum Visits as 'Big Sister' Criticism Revives
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 23
Summary
$2 million would expand Massachusetts' Welcome Family program from about 3,000 births a year to roughly 68,000 statewide, offering nurse home visits after childbirth.
Healey has framed the push as a maternal mental-health measure after the Lindsay Clancy case, saying every family with a newborn should get a home visit to assess support needs.
State materials describe the visits as voluntary and say nurses check parent and newborn health, discuss home safety and screen for postpartum mental-health concerns; in 2025, 208 of 1,620 depression screenings were positive and all received referrals.
Anne Schlafly, invoking Phyllis Schlafly's 1999 'Big Sister' warning, argues the program risks government intrusion and questions whether consent is truly informed immediately after childbirth.
The dispute now centers less on whether help should exist than on how far the state can extend it into private homes while preserving a clear right to refuse.