Major Win for Compassion: Federal Appeals Court Upholds MA Anti-Gestation Crate Law

In 2016, Massachusetts voters approved a landmark animal welfare law, the Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals, banning gestation crates for pigs, veal crates for baby cows, and requiring cage-free housing for egg-laying hens. The law also prohibited the sale of animal products from outside the state if they came from animals raised in these cruel systems. This groundbreaking, voter-approved legislation paved the way for California’s Proposition 12, which passed in 2018 with 63% public support and established similar protections for farmed animals.

For nearly a decade, representatives of out-of-state factory farms that continue to confine mother pigs in crates so small they can’t even turn around have tried to overturn Massachusetts’ compassionate law. But this month, a federal appeals court in Boston upheld the law, reaffirming that states have the right to reject products produced through cruelty. The decision follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s earlier ruling that California’s Proposition 12 animal welfare law is constitutional, despite similar attacks from factory farmers.

This month’s victory validates the will of Massachusetts voters, who made it clear they do not want animals raised or sold for food in their state to suffer such needless torment. It is a major win for compassion and a clear statement that the public has the right to stand against the factory farming industry’s ongoing attempts to normalize abuse.

However, this ruling also underscores the danger of comments made by newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who has stated her intention to force states to accept pork from farms that use gestation crates. Such a move would be an example of extreme and unconstitutional overreach, a betrayal of the will of the American people—who overwhelmingly oppose animal cruelty—and a direct violation of states’ rights.

This federal appeals court decision in favor of Massachusetts’ welfare law is a crucial milestone in the fight for farmed animals, but the fight is far from over. The USDA must stop siding with cruelty and start supporting progress.

If you haven’t already, please sign our petition calling on Secretary Rollins to reject cruel gestation crates and respect states’ rights to set stronger animal welfare protections.