Franklin Graham is not mincing words - and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is squarely in his sights.
The evangelist has unleashed a blistering response after Healey signed sweeping new abortion legislation Monday, August 10, removing Massachusetts' previous statutory restrictions governing abortions after 24 weeks and giving physicians broader discretion over when later abortions may be performed.
And it was apparently the celebratory atmosphere surrounding the signing that really got under Graham's skin.
"This sends a chill up my spine," Graham wrote after seeing footage of Healey smiling while supporters applauded the bill becoming law.
"This is murder. It's evil," he declared, before taking direct aim at Healey's description of abortion as healthcare and invoking Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil."
Then Graham delivered his starkest warning yet, declaring that Healey and those celebrating the legislation will eventually "stand before a Holy God" - and adding, "I don't think they will be cheering then."
The controversy centers on a significant change to Massachusetts abortion law.
Previously, abortions after 24 weeks were permitted under specified circumstances, including when necessary to preserve the pregnant patient's life or physical or mental health and in cases involving certain serious fetal conditions.
The new legislation removes those specific statutory requirements. Instead, after 24 weeks, an abortion may be performed based upon the physician's "professional judgment."
That has prompted opponents, including Graham, to describe Massachusetts as allowing abortion "up to birth." Major reports similarly note that the state now has no fixed gestational-age cutoff, although supporters emphasize that later abortions involve medical decisions between physicians and patients and often arise amid devastating pregnancy complications.
Healey, meanwhile, isn't backing away.
"We believe that health care decisions should be made between women and families and their doctors, not politicians," the Democratic governor said at the signing ceremony.
She also pledged that abortion would remain "safe," "legal" and "accessible" in Massachusetts. Healey said the legislation was intended in part to help families confronted with heartbreaking diagnoses later in pregnancy who previously could be forced to travel elsewhere for care.
But Graham isn't the only prominent evangelical raising the alarm.
Theologian and author Ed Stetzer also weighed in, arguing that the crucial issue is the disappearance of a specific gestational cutoff and warning that future generations will "look back in horror" at America's treatment of unborn children.
The battle lines could hardly be clearer.
Healey and supporters are celebrating the legislation as protection for patients and doctors making intensely personal medical decisions.
Graham sees something altogether different - and his message to those smiling and applauding at the signing ceremony couldn't have been more ominous.
The political celebration may have lasted only a few minutes.
But according to Franklin Graham, there is another judgment still to come.
