(LifeSiteNews) — The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts have condemned as “radical” and “gravely immoral” a bill that, if approved by the state Senate, would remove virtually all legal restrictions on late-term abortions.

Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed bill H.5595, which would allow abortionists to kill unborn babies after 24 weeks gestation based on their “professional judgement,” opening the door to effectively unlimited abortion up to birth.

Current state law only allows abortions after six months in certain circumstances, such as if it is deemed “necessary” to preserve the life or health of the mother – despite the fact that even abortionists admit there is no such thing as a “medically necessary” abortion – or if the baby has an allegedly lethal condition, though abortion is never ethically justifiable.

“As Catholic bishops we have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching and the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death,” said the Massachusetts bishops in a statement.

“The proposed elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgement, a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” the bishops declared, going on to express hope that the state Senate would not pass the measure.

“Life is beautiful! We invite the Catholic community to pray for a renewal of reverence for all human life,” the bishops continued.

“We reaffirm the Church’s call to its own community and to civil society to provide the resources to welcome and cherish the gift of life, as well as to accompany women and families who have known the tragedy of abortion. Let there be room in our hearts for the most vulnerable among us. May we recall and live the Lord’s own word ‘whatsoever you do to the least of these you do to me.'”

Massachusetts Citizens for Life president Myrna Maloney Flynn has said that the “abortion-up-to-birth bill permits one physician to subjectively decide that any unborn infant can be killed in or outside of a hospital, even babies capable of surviving outside the womb and feeling pain within it.”

“Women experiencing unimaginable, heart wrenching pregnancy complications absolutely deserve all the support they need, but that support is not what this bill provides,” she added. “Instead, this bill ensures increased abortion industry profits and taxpayer-funded late-term procedures. The legislation promises that an already ominous shadow will grow even darker over the state of Massachusetts.”

Abortion defenders have long attempted to downplay late-term abortions as rare bordering on nonexistent while opposing any attempt to restrict them. But the facts show that they are a very real problem.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reviewed by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), while more than 90 percent of abortions occur in the first trimester, more than 50,000 abortions a year take place after 15 weeks (almost four months into pregnancy), and approximately 10,000 after 20 weeks (five months).

Further, contrary to pro-abortion narratives, most of these abortions are not even sought for medical emergencies. A 2013 Guttmacher report admitted “data suggests that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment,” and notorious late-term abortionist Warren Hern’s own published data found that so-called “fetal abnormalities” ranged from just a fifth to a third of his clients – and that the most common of those “abnormalities” was Down syndrome, a condition that is neither a death sentence nor even a guarantee of an unhappy life.

Yet, for years, congressional Democrats have consistently voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion-on-demand after five months.

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