State Rep. Dylan Fernandes and activists from the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts came to Vineyard Haven Sunday to brief Islanders on the ROE Act, which would lift the state’s restrictions on access to abortion for teenagers and for women facing serious medical problems after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

“This is one of the key pieces of legislation at the state house this year, and this is the number one piece to protect women’s reproductive health in Massachusetts,” Mr. Fernandes told an audience of about 60 people at the Katharine Cornell Theatre.

“Every woman regardless of their age, their zip code, their sexual orientation has the right to accessible, affordable and safe reproductive health care,” he said, triggering applause.

Enacted soon after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Massachusetts laws currently require a pregnant woman under the age of 18 to seek a hearing before a judge if her parents do not grant permission for the procedure. According to Planned Parenthood, the so-called “judicial bypass” process takes one to three weeks, causing some young women to miss their opportunity for medication abortions — pills taken in the first few weeks of a pregnancy — which account for about 40 per cent of all abortions.

“This is just an incredibly arcane law that Massachusetts still has on its books, and there’s no justification for keeping it there,” Mr. Fernandes said.

“It primarily hurts lower income young people and young people of color,” said Mehreen Butt, the Massachusetts league’s associate director of policy and government affairs, who joined Mr. Fernandes at Sunday’s briefing.

“It takes away choice options from them,” Ms. Butt said.

The delay is also unnecessary, she added, as judges unfailingly approve the requests.

Formally titled An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access, the ROE Act also would permit women with serious medical problems to receive abortions in Massachusetts after their 24th week of pregnancy; extend health safety net coverage to include abortion services, and lift unenforced regulations including a 24-hour waiting period and penalties for doctors who perform the procedure.

The bill will protect the rights of Massachusetts residents in the event that the Roe v. Wade decision is overturned by the Supreme Court, Mr. Fernandes said.

“It is more important than ever that Massachusetts leads on this and codifies the ROE Act into its law,” he said.

More than half of the state’s 200 legislators have signed on in support of the bill, Mr. Fernandes said, but a two-thirds majority is needed to overcome a potential veto by governor Charlie Baker.

“We should at least put it to a vote, to put it in the governor’s hands,” he said. “If he’s going to veto. . . he should have the stain on his record and be held accountable by the voters.

Ms. Butt and Planned Parenthood representative Jordan Thornlow suggested that audience members network with friends who live in other parts of Massachusetts and encourage them to tell their legislators to sign on to the bill.

“If you know anyone in Winthrop, Revere, Brockton, Chicopee or Acton, those are really key areas right now,” Ms. Butt said.

Mr. Fernandes also took aim at Cape and Islands health care providers for not making abortion services available to women in their communities.

“Access to two pills, for Martha’s Vineyard residents, that should be an easier barrier to break down,” he said. “In terms of being able to get a medical abortion, I think it’s unconscionable that the standard health care providers across the Cape and Islands are not already providing that service,” he added, to hearty applause.

One Islander who attended Sunday’s briefing said she is working to bring abortion care to Martha’s Vineyard. In a follow-up email to the Gazette, Elizabeth Barnes of Edgartown said she has created a nonprofit called Abortion Access for All, with the intention of offering abortion services to Islanders about once a week.

“Comprehensive, accessible reproductive health care, including abortion care, is essential for the well being of our Island community,” Ms. Barnes wrote.

Her group is in search of a space it could use, perhaps on weekends, she said.

“It is time abortion care is made available here,” she said.