Each year, our Catholic members and fellow pro-lifers put their principles into prayerful practice, and spend intentional prayer periods over the weekend nearest the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to witness to the value of the lives los to legal abortion. The witness engages our greater communities, and the prayer is made to end the injustice of abortion.

Please see the attached document here for a full list of parishes participating. We invite you to join the holy hour nearest you if you're Catholic or Christian.

In the upcoming few weeks, our legislators will be making a final decision on whether to send the "ROE" Act (S.1209/H.3320) on to a full vote. If voted on and passed, the "ROE" Act will remove parental notification for our young girls entering abortion clinics, legalize passive infanticide, and promote abortion access over our women's safety by removing the grueling 2-3 day late-term abortion procedure from a hospital setting.

You organized last year en masse and stalled this anti-life bill in committee. You arrived in droves on the day of the public hearing, demonstrating that Massachusetts Citizens, both pro-life and pro-choice, do not support promoting abortion access over women's safety, our daughter's safety, and the lives of infants born alive during botched procedures.

You amplified the story of Keisha Atkins, who lost her life to laws like "ROE", which are already on the books in New Mexico.

Members of our legislature heard you loud and clear during our non-stop Fall Call-a-Thons, where you told your lawmakers no to "ROE".

Take 2 minutes now and call or email your State Senator telling them NO on "ROE".

Please make use of our quick lobbying sheet, and share your deepest personal reason for opposing this dangerous bill.

Facts like Keisha Atkins' life, and death, show us exactly where "ROE" leads. It isn't a state for women or children. It is a state with reduced standards of medical care, reduced respect for vulnerable human lives, and reduced respect for women in challenging situations.

Let our lawmakers know today: No to "ROE" -- Massachusetts, we can do a lot better.

The "ROE" Act (S.1209/H.3320) is currently being deliberated on by our Joint Committee on the Judiciary. 

After your reach your State Senator, we encourage you to contact the Committee Chairs, whose information can be found below.

Rep. Claire Cronin -- (617) 722-2396 -- Claire.Cronin@mahouse.gov

Rep. Michael Day -- (617) 722-2396 -- Michael.Day@mahouse.gov

Email us to set up a local Pro-Life Call-A-Thon -- action@masscitizensforlife.org

Schedule a local Info-Session at your community, chapter, or parish meeting location!  Email CJ -- CJ@masscitizensforlife.org.

By Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life

Writing for the Boston University News Service, Keminni Amanor reported Monday that “A new bill requiring public universities in Massachusetts to provide on-campus medication abortion” is currently “in hearings in the Joint Committee on Public Health until further notice.”

Interestingly, while the Joint Committee last discussed the bill on Sept. 10, bill sponsor Massachusetts state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa “said the conversation cannot yet be made public.”

“More than 100 public universities in Massachusetts will be affected by bill H3841, which will make it possible for students to receive pills in order to end a pregnancy at any campus health center,” according to Amanor .

The text of HB3841 itself does not currently list how late in pregnancy medication abortions could be performed, but Amanor quotes information from Planned Parenthood , saying “these pills can be given only if the woman is less than 10 weeks pregnant.”

The story is very sketchy but apparently the bill was introduced last January by Sabadosa. It largely mimics California’s new law which requires public universities to offer chemical abortion at on-campus student health centers.

“The bill is slightly different than the California legislation in that it does create a trust that would be used to fund the cost of the medication on campuses. It could certainly become a line item in the budget,” said Sabadosa.

This is not as straightforward as it sounds. “According to the bill,” Amanor explains, “the trust, a Public University Health Center Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund, will be created with money approved by the legislature, though it is unclear where this money will come from yet.”

As was the case in California, the argument for the requirement is access to abortion. “It’s easier for students to be able to access care if they can go on campus, they can get follow up therapy more easily and it just is a huge burden off a time that can already be stressful,” Sabadosa said.

This was not true in California—which is why pro-abortion Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill—and it isn’t true in Massachusetts. Director of Community Engagement at Massachusetts Citizens for Life, C. J. Williams said the bill is an unnecessary expansion of access to abortion at the detriment of safety.

“There’s nothing dangerous about a bus ride. There’s also the fact that in Massachusetts, we have health facilities nearby nearly any college center. I don’t know one campus that doesn’t have one that would provide a chemical abortion within five miles,” she said.

According to the story, “Williams also expressed frustration about how the bill limits the choices young people have when they are pregnant to just termination.”

“If you’re just putting an abortion facility in the middle of their college campus, our daughters are not getting the message that they have a choice. You want to give them options, not abortion,” Williams added.

J. David Franks, Board chairman at Massachusetts Citizens for Life, was also interviewed and said it is a “dangerous bill” for young women. “Facilitating this pop-a-pill mentality as if one can deal with the grave and long-reaching consequences of our reproductive biology, as if one can pop a pill or two and then have no problems. It’s just magical thinking,” Franks told the Boston University News Service.

No doubt to ward off additional questions about cost, Sabadosa told Amanor, “The legislation, however, only impacts public universities that already have health services on campus where they perform OB-GYN appointments, so it does not require universities to make upfront capital investment. It’s really the cost of the [abortifacient] medication

A Suffolk Superior Court in Cambridge, Massachusetts ruled today that there is no constitutional right to doctor prescribed suicide in the state. The court rejected the argument that a doctor had an obligation to offer harmful drugs to terminally ill or suffering individuals if they requested it; it re-affirmed that prescribing deadly drugs would be legal manslaughter.

The ruling comes in a case brought to the court by Dr. Roger Kligler, a retired Cape Cod physician who has advanced prostate cancer, and Dr. Alan Steinbach, who owns a family practice in Falmouth, MA.

Although this is a common sense interpretation of laws in our state to protect human life, it is not necessarily a ruling that will impact the legislature's push, lead by the doctor prescribed suicide lobby, to promote medical professionals offering suicide before hospice or treatment. Especially in cases of illnesses complicated by mental health, doctor prescribed suicide directly discriminates against disabled, underprivileged, and elderly populations.

In the final ruling concluded that the issue is best dealt with by lawmakers in the State House, not decided by judges from the bench.

This means it is all the more critical that citizens contact their lawmakers, and express their full opposition to current suicide bills S.1208/H.1926.

Call the Joint Committee on Public Health

Chair: Sen. Jo Comerford

Jo.Comerford@masenate.gov

(617) 722-1532

24 Beacon St.
Room 413-C
Boston, MA, 02133

Vice Chair:  Sen. Nick Collins

Nick.Collins@masenate.gov

(617) 722-1150

24 Beacon St.
Room 312-D
Boston, MA, 02133

The decision that the Massachusetts constitution does not include assisted suicide as a right is accurate and just. It's fantastic news.  Now you as a constituent can contact your lawmakers. Let them know you're glad the court has turned it over to you, and them, and ask them to oppose H.1926/S.1208.

FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR

READ THE MOST CURRENT ARTICLES ON DOCTOR PRESCRIBED SUICIDE ON OUR BLOG

The Boston Globe reported this week that Brookline abortion facility, "Women’s Health Services", is months from shutting down. The longtime abortuary, at which dedicated human rights advocates have sidewalk counseled for years, claims it isn't pulling in enough cash to continue terminating preborn children.

Said clinic director, Laurent “Lolly” Delli-Bovi, “We are at a crossroads. WHS will have to close within the next three months if we do not receive sustaining donor support.” The facility had requested a grant, but was turned down. 

This news comes alongside the release of Planned Parenthood's annual report, showing their supporters and donations have dropped precipitously.  The general public is more and more educated due to ultrasound technology, and breaking cases such as Keisha Atkins' in New Mexico have demonstrated the dangers of abortion procedures even to the women they're suppose to "help".

The Globe remarks that WHS provides cheaper abortions for women who can't afford hospital care (which means $700-$1,300). What it does not note is that a hospital provides safety and basic standards of medical care which WHS is under no regulation to provide. 

“My biggest concern is that if we close, there’s just this whole group of people that are not going to be able to either afford or access care,” said Delli-Bovi.

"My concern," said C.J. Williams, MCFL's director of community engagement, "Is that women are routinely told they need abortion. We used to be told we needed to stay home, needed a husband to own property, needed to forgo the vote. This facility has supported oppression for years. To be told you need access to killing your own child ...that's utterly demeaning."

There are a lot of health needs in our state. Charging a woman $700 to perform a procedure that threatens her life, and takes the life of her child, is always one dramatic unprofitable act to all parties involved. Abortion disenfranchises an entire group of people. Because of WHS,  thousands will never access care; never afford any medical treatment; never even see the sunrise. Those are our unborn children. 

Pregnancy isn't a disability, and abortion is never a medical necessity. 

Brookline's abortion facility closing down just goes to show that Massachusetts citizens want an equality that offers women true healthcare, and treats their viable preborn children with the same respect. 

Massachusetts, this is progress.

-----

Join the movement

Donate today

BERKSHIRES 

(North Adams Chapter)

Depart from the Berkshires, Thursday, Jan. 23^rd,  9:15 pm

Return from D.C. immediately following the March, to arrive home ~midnight

Suggested donation: $25 (or more to cover fellow marchers who have less means)

Call Robin at 413-743-1329 to reserve your seat.

Boston 

(Catholic track with the archdiocese)

See the full page and options here. 

If you would like budget friendly accommodations for this trip, please use the MCFL BLOCK at POD D.C. Call 202-847-4444, and request MCFL for $139/night (or 2 per room $70 per night) Wed., Thu., and Fri.

Worcester

(Central Mass. Chapter partnered with Diocese of Worcester)

Depart from St. Paul's Cathedral, Thursday, Jan. 23rd, ~8:00pm (mass at 7:30pm)

Return from D.C. immediately following the March, to arrive in Worcester ~midnight

See the full registration page from Worcester diocese for donation and reservations here. 

Boston, MA - 13 March 2019 - 9:00am - A strange package was received by the MCFL Operations Manager early today. It seemed to have been sent by MCFL to an incorrect address, and when opened, was found to contain a disfigured baby doll, with a woman's face pasted over its features. 

Can you push us over the line? We need to raise $10,000 by the end of 2019... 

Dear friend -- We know there are a lot of organizations to consider when it comes to year-end giving. But there is no other organization in Massachusetts solely dedicated to the pro-life cause. Why not give a tax-deductible gift to the Massachusetts Citizens for Life Charitable Trust? 

At MCFL, we use small and large gifts to save the lives of the unborn, toprotect mothers, the sick, and the elderly, and teach legislators and the public about the dignity of human life. 

The generosity you’ve shown to MCFL has been remarkable, and we are so very grateful.

It is because of you that we have stopped the abortion lobby from passing their horrific ROE Act this year – a bill that would legalize passive infanticide, endanger our underage girls, and remove every pro-life law we’ve passed over the past five decades. But the ROE Act is not yet defeated. It remains a very real threat in 2020, and we will do everything within our power to block it, but we need your help. 

We just announced a campaign to raise $10,000 between now and December 31st to help MCFL obtain the necessary funds to continue our work in 2020. Those funds will be used to educate thousands of Massachusetts residents who have not yet learned about the dangers of the ROE Act. They may be your neighbors, coworkers, extended family, or strangers you pass in the grocery store. We believe it is our duty to inform them. 

You know as well as I do that we need to bring more people into the movement to protect life. We need to expand our reach and strengthen our impact, and your gift today will give us the means to nourish our life-saving programs and unite our supporters, whether they’re new, old, or prospective members of the MCFL family. 

Please make a tax-deductible gift today to help us in our mission to grow the pro-life movement in Massachusetts. Click here: Secure.MCFL.Donate.org

I have every confidence that we’ll meet our $10,000 goal and look forward to celebrating with you as we ring in the new decade together Tuesday night. Thank you in advance for your participation. 

Warm regards,

Myrna Maloney Flynn

President 

P.S. Planned Parenthood and NARAL Massachusetts are notifying their members about how active and generous you have been. They are raising millions to push an agenda promoting abortion at any cost, even at the cost of women’s lives. We don’t need millions to accomplish our pro-life goals, but we do need your help! Your generous gift today will help us change more hearts and realize more for life in 2020 and through the new decade. Click here to make your gift today:  https://www.masscitizensforlife.org/donate-trust

MCFL has negotiated a huge discount on hotel rooms for Massachusetts residents traveling to the National March for Life in January!

You can book your room through our secure link here. Or call 202-847-4444 and ask for the "MCFL Block Rate".

The double occupancy suites are in MODUS Hotel, with easy access by foot or metro to 

• The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
• The March for Life Expo at the Renaissance Hotel
• Catholic University
• ...and the National Mall and March for Life Rally site

Whatever bus you're taking, or if you're flying down or carpooling, this is our offer to help unite our pro-life citizens, and provide affordable lodging to the many of you who sacrifice so much just to make the journey.

With buses heading down from more locations than ever, we booked 60+ rooms in this 4 star hotel, where a regular rate climbs to into multiple hundreds per night. This opportunity gives you the chance to go to the historic Pro-Life Summit, Cardinal O'Connor Conference, and the Annual March for Life Rose Dinner.

With this discount, each of you in a room only spend ~&70.00.

Call 202-847-4444 and ask for the "MCFL Block Rate".

We hate to interrupt your holiday -- but this news couldn't wait. And the hotel can only hold this deal for us until the 11th.

Make your reservation today! Or offer to give the gift of fellowship, and top-rate lodging, to one of your loved ones making the pilgrimage to protect our preborn in 2020.

In bunched hoods and pulled-down beanies, gloved and ungloved, but each rubbing their hands or stomping to stave off the chill, a crowd gathered in front of Planned Parenthood, December 21st, in Boston.  At first, only the sound of muffled traffic crackled on the air. 

But then a young woman arrived, arms filled with paper. Carols. 

And the crowd began singing. 

The day didn't warm up, but the space on that pavement did. 

It came upon a midnight fair... 

Hark! the herald, angels sing...

...newborn king...

MCFL members, young and not as young, longtime and just joined, belted out the songs that have given hope to millions through the centuries. 

This is The Carol for Life, or A Pro-Life Christmas Carol. Each year, partnering with fellow pro-life organizations and communities, MCFL hosts this outreach -- and each year, we reach hundreds of women.

Members hand out gifts, and resource cards for women, and men, that list medical and community centers offering real medical care, housing, and testing, and don't kill. Boston Pregnancy Help is right up the street in Brighton. Just outside of Boston, Friends of the Unborn, in Quincy, provides housing.

"Make sure to ask them for all your options," said one member, as a girl approached -- "If they just offer abortion, that's not a choice."

"Ask to see your ultrasound."

"You and your child are worth a full life."

"Can you take a minute?"

One girl did pause for a minute, meeting C.J., our community engagement director, as she had to leave. "I can't afford another one. I can't even afford my utilities this month."

By the end of the day, local MCFL members had covered her utilities. She never entered the clinic.

In Boston on Saturday, December the 21st, before 8:00am, there were people on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood. They were bundled in layers, and stomping their feet. Most were young, joined by a few older members who have spoken up for the vulnerable here for decades.  

In Boston on Saturday, a life was saved -- because people were on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood.

Christmas comes but once a year, but you have the chance every morning -- before work, on a day off, on the weekend -- to save lives and make abortion unthinkable; make abortion visible; make hope a choice a woman can make.

See our online resource shop for pamphlets and resource cards.

See previous articles on how to save a life on the sidewalk.

Donate today to MCFL to keep our feet on the ground where it makes the most difference.

Will you join us at a Pro-Life Christmas Carol this Saturday?

With just a few days until Christmas, many of us are preparing to celebrate life.

But what you may not know, is that this is one of the biggest business times for the abortion business. New mothers in unexpected or difficult pregnancies ask: Where will I live if I have a child now?  What if she comes home from school with the announcement, "Mom, I have to tell you something..."

Your voice outside the Planned Parenthood can give a small new life a welcome he won't receive otherwise. Your voice will give love and hope to a mother who thinks she has no option. 

Will you do whatever it takes? 

Join us 8am-10am, Saturday, December 21st at 1055 Commonwealth Ave. Boston!

If you cannot come, please seriously consider giving to support our work. Donate now at this this secure link.

Your gift gives us the means to be there, to offer gifts of baby clothes and supplies to mothers approaching the clinic, and to reach out to the clinic workers.

Spotlight on Local Resources for Women in Massachusetts

VISITATION HOUSE

Worcester

FRIENDS OF THE UNBORN

Quincy

ClearWay Clinic

Springfield and Worcester Area

Problem Pregnancy

Worcester

Boston Pregnancy Center

Boston/Brighton

Thank you again for forwarding this to a friend, financially supporting our life-saving work, and doing whatever it takes to protect and respect human lives in Massachusetts. At the end of the calendar year, your support is all the more critical as I look ahead to plan for the new year.

Keep an eye out for photo updates and the report on the event after the holidays!

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President

Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn’t grow under my heart but in it. -- Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Some might be over the platform, but I still appreciate Facebook. I doubt I’ll ever find much value in seeing photos of your dinner, but I do get a kick out of toddler antics—OK, really anyone’s antics, as long as they’re clever enough to make me LOL. There aren’t enough reasons to laugh out loud these days. I’ve got to give it to Mark Zuckerberg for presenting them. (Now we just need to convince Zuck to divert some of his company's earnings toward pro-life causes.)

Last spring, I found myself captivated by a Facebook friend's frequent posts. I'd lost track of most of what he'd been up to since junior high, but it was apparent from his updates that he and his wife were going through the arduous ordeal of adopting a child. 

It wasn’t a smooth process or a swift one. Some posts revealed the couple's vulnerabilities, fears, and their many anxieties. Other updates announced milestones and sequential challenges they'd gleefully overcome. From what I could tell, the two spent close to two years as hopeful adoptive parents, making their way through "the system." 

In August, they finally travelled to South Korea and visited the same agency from which my friend himself had been adopted. That week, hundreds of us back here in the States tuned in daily for what had become the best reality show ever. We followed my friend and his wife through airports, landmarks, and, finally, into a play area where we got our first look at their son. 

Facebook's ubiquitous blue "thumbs-up" icon that my friend had been receiving on each post swept exclusively to red hearts as two became three, and we all got to welcome Hudson into a family. My friend snapped the picture above as they headed back to their hotel to prepare for the long trip home. My friend's simple caption to his photo: "Success!"    

As you may know, November is National Adoption Month, which falls appropriately on the heels of October’s Respect Life messaging. My purpose today isn’t necessarily to encourage you to adopt a child. But I would ask that we each listen for what may be a call to consider it or to go out of our way to support someone who is. Adoption by Choice is one local agency to know about. 

If you are aware of someone facing an unexpected pregnancy, point her to MCFL’s website, where she can find supportive statewide resources. While not adoption agencies themselves, they will refer women who seek adoptionfor their baby to reputable, life-affirming, organizations.

Here's to those who have responded to the call to adopt. Here's to heroic women who so bravely give their babies life and opportunities. And here's to the men and women who help to make "the system" work, those who make it a success.  

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, President, MCFL

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life. - Ronald Reagan

I don’t remember a lot about being seven, but I remember Alex. He was a German exchange student who lived with us after my brother returned from his stay with Alex’s family in what was then West Germany. I remember Alex pointing to the eastward horizon from our backyard one day, trying to help me fathom where his home was, and squinting in my attempt to actually see this mysterious land with very tall people whose words sounded so different.

I remember Alex telling me a story about a high wall that went on for miles, sliced the land in two, and trapped people on one side. I recall being frightened not only by the notion itself but by Alex’s tone; the way he described the wall sounded a lot like his description of German food or the Autobahn: it was just an accepted part of the culture. 

A few years later, like you when you saw the impossible — the Berlin Wall suddenly toppling one night on TV, hoards of elated people atop it, yelling, waving, dancing — I felt a mix of amazement and disbelief. And I wondered, “Which powerful person finally brought it down?” 

Yesterday, I came across an article in The Wall Street Journal that offers one highly inspirational answer: ordinary people. To be sure, influencers like President Reagan and Saint John Paul II undoubtedly caused the foundation beneath the concrete slabs to waver. Yet, according to the Journal:     

“ . . . formerly secret documents from the Stasi archive and German government collections, along with interviews, reveal that the sparks that detonated the powder keg the night of Nov. 9, 1989, came from the men and women in the middle: largely unknown officials and average East Germans in history’s path. Their actions—some intentional, some not—produced the chain of events that, wittingly and otherwise, leveled the Berlin Wall that night.”

The article reminded me...

Giving Tuesday gives the nation a chance to turn towards giving, rather than the consumerist taking so often tangled up with the holidays. At MCFL, we one-up that theme: Giving is good, but giving life is even better.

When you donate now, this coming weekend after Thanksgiving, or on Tuesday, November 27th itself, your financial gift can save a human life.

"I wouldn't have known I had another option if you hadn't been out here." Lilly (name changed for purposes of anonymity) met me in front of Planned Parenthood while I was helping others start sidewalk counseling. She was pregnant.

"You have no idea...I didn't know I could do anything about abortion until I started getting emails, coming to your events."  Paul (named changed) pointed at the handout I had given him. "I thought I was the only one who, like, cared..."

"If I hadn't seen those [pointing at the fetal models] I would have aborted. I would have believed Evie was just a clump of my cells

"You gave me back two lives!"

"I found you online. Thank you for your website. Thank you for responding to my email, and for the note and money. It gave me the courage to keep my baby." 

These are all people who -- because MCFL offered training or pregnancy resource help -- cherished or protected an unborn life. 

We give a lot of things during the holiday season. We buy a lot of stuff. But we sometimes forget just how much we can give -- life! Hope. The physical presence and love that let a mother know she is not throwaway, and neither is her child.

Please partner with us, and give this holiday season to make sure that every child in Massachusetts -- in the womb or out of it -- can celebrate the holiday.

Donate today:

$1,000! Life is priceless!

$560 will sponsor weekly sidewalk counseling vigils  for a month, and training for new counselors in Boston

$340 will provide  two students or young professionals the chance to attend the National March for Life with our charted buses

$100 will sponsor a community screening of UnPlanned, especially on college campuses

$50 gives us the means to print pregnancy resource and fetal development brochures for our work outside abortion facilities for the Mont of December.

Finally, can you send our members caroling for life this Christmas? Any amount will support A Pro-Life Christmas Carol, reaching both women in crisis this season, and abortion workers.

Thank you for your generosity, your partnership, your life-saving gifts!

For Immediate Release

National Right to Life, partnered with many pro-life and human rights organizations, sent a letter last week to urge President Trump to educate the Congress on the killer provisions found in the current draft of the Shaheen Amendment to our State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriations bill.

"Remove the language that requires funds to be siphoned to so-called "international family planning," said C.J. Williams of Mass. Citizens for Life, in wake of the letter's drafting. 

“The Shaheen amendment would weaken the Trump Administration’s Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy as well as other administration initiatives protecting life,” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “This amendment is anti-life and would jeopardize this administration’s efforts to protect life both here and abroad.”

National Right to Life states that the Shaheen amendment would increase money for this controversal "international family planning” from $575 million to 632.55 million. In the letter, the organizations noted that “more money for this earmark exploits an aspect of the PLGHA that allows this account to serve as a taxpayer-funded supplemental for U.S.-based NGOs that actively promote abortions overseas.” 

“The Shaheen amendment is a blatant attempt to impose pro-abortion policies and earmarks. It also violates the Bipartisan Budget Agreement for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021 by adding this poison pill and increasing spending levels,” stated Tobias. “National Right to Life, along with several other pro-life organizations, urges President Trump to tell Congress to reject the Shaheen amendment.”

Mid-November, just a couple weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday and State House recess, MCFL started tallying the signatures.

On the online petition opposing the "ROE" Act (S.1209/H.3320) alone, we had thousands of signatures. And as our office began printing them off, more were coming in.

From every possible angle, the "ROE" Act fails. Perhaps the final straw for even pro-choice citizens has been the exposure of the provision that would remove multi-day late-term abortion procedures from our internationally acclaimed hospitals -- and dump them, and the women subjected to them, in unregulated clinics.

An attorney in New Mexico currently prosecuting just such a clinic for gross negligence and the death of his client's 23 year old daughter, Keisha, spoke to an audience the State House's Great Hall:

"The provisions in this bill [ROE] have killed or injured 17+ women in my state...and that's just the ones I've documented."

State House News stopped in to report on the delivery. As C.J. handed over the thick stack of signatures and petitions, the reporter snapped a photo.

Better than your voices being heard, the voices of the unborn and marginalized women were heard because you spoke up, signed up -- and some of you even showed up!

MCFL members who had received the call to action email the week before joined us on Beacon Hill.

After the delivery of signatures, we visited 40+ offices and representatives, all of whom were open -- and concerned -- about this bill's outright flouting of basic standards of medical care on an "access before safety" model that promotes abortion. Period.

Keep signing that petition! We're set to make another delivery after the holidays.

In the meantime, educate yourself on the line-by-line modifications of our general law imposed by the "ROE" Act, and join the movement (if you haven't already), to receive regular action opportunities that will save lives in Massachusetts.

The State House news reported on our delivery of thousands of petitions opposing the ROE Act today. 

ROE Act Opponents Visit Judiciary Committee

ROE Act opponents visited the Judiciary Committee Thursday to deliver signatures from people opposed to the bill, which was the subject of a long public hearing in June. Massachusetts Citizens for Life claims the bill (S 1209 / H 3320) would lower standards of care for women by permitting certain abortions to be undertaken outside of hospital settings. The bill's critics also oppose its changes to parental consent. The ROE Act, backed by a large coalition, eliminates parental consent requirements for teens seeking an abortion, allows abortions after 24 weeks to protect the physical or mental health of a patient, or in cases of diagnosed lethal fetal anomalies, and includes abortion in the pregnancy-related safety net coverage for residents ineligible for MassHealth. C.J. Williams of Mass. Citizens for Life said she turned in 1,654 signatures to Judiciary Committee counsel Jim McCarthy, and new digital signatures were still landing in her email inbox while she stood in the office around 3:20 p.m. ROE Act supporters were also on Beacon Hill Thursday for an advocacy training hosted by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. Williams said she hoped to run into them and "have a conversation," but did not encounter any backers of the bill.

- Michael P. Norton/SHNS

The MCFL Charitable Trust funds education and other charitable pro-life activities. It is an excellent way of tackling the human side of life issues and a major part of the “hearts and minds” effort. Your donations to the MCFL Charitable Trust are tax deductible to the maximum extent allowed by law. Please consult a tax professional.

Reserve your room today at the POD D.C. Hotel. Call 202-847-4444 and request the MCFL Group Rate. Reservation deadline: Friday, January 10.

This year, MCFL is sponsoring three buses to D.C. If you can only take the day of the March itself, our bus from Boston leaving Thursday night is perfect, and returns Friday night. If you want to take advantage of the huge array of annual pro-life conventions, meetings, and action, then the bus leaving Wednesday is for you (and so is the exclusive group rate with our hotel partner Modus/POD Hotels).

PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible for making your own hotel accommodations. MCFL has room blocks at a discounted rate for anyone who makes a reservation using Bus Option 2. You can book through the hotel's unique portal at THIS SECURE LINK after you make your bus reservation. Hotel reservation deadline: Friday, January 10.

The hotel is located just a short distance from the Basilica of the Immaculate Shrine. Rooms are available for $139 per night per room. 

We also have a bus leaving from western Massachusetts Thursday night. 

See all details below.

Our limited edition MCFL "Pro-Life Strong" scarf is free to every individual reserving their seat or hotel room now...so don't wait. Seats go fast, but our scarves go faster.

Full details on each itinerary below:

BOSTON: Day-Trip - BUS #1 - January 23-24, 2020

(depart Thursday, return Friday night after the March)

(Overnight Bus - No Hotel Stay) Our first itinerary will run overnight Thursday to allow members to march on Friday before returning that evening. This is the ideal trip for someone who cannot spend too many days away from home, or who is looking for for the most economical trip.

FRIDAY MORNING:

Arrive in Washington D.C., at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (~7:00)

Optional mass (closing mass for the Knights of Columbus Vigil for Life) (7:30am)

MARCH FOR LIFE EXPO (8:00AM-10:00AM), Renaissance Downtown DC Hotel

FRIDAY AFTERNOON:

MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY (10:30AM-1:00PM), The National Mall

MEET TO MARCH TOGETHER: Warm drinks, hand-warmers, fellow Mass. citizens (12:30PM) @12th St NW & Constitution Ace (across from IRS building)

47th ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE (1:00PM-4:00PM) National Mall to Supreme Court

CONSISTENT LIFE NETWORK MEET-UP (2:30pm), Southeast Library, 403 7th St SE, Washington, DC 20003

JOIN FELLOW MARCHERS FOR BAY STATE SUPPER (~4:00PM) location TBD

    >>>  Depart: Thursday, January 23rd at 8:00 PM from Riverside Station (367 Grove St, Newton, MA)

    >>>  Return: Friday, January 24th after the March for Life, to Riverside

BOSTON: 2 NIGHT HOTEL STAY -BUS #2 - January 22-25, 2020

(depart Wednesday evening, return Saturday afternoon after the national Pro-Life Summit)

 (2-Night Hotel Stay) Our second itinerary will include a 2-night stay at POD DC hotel full of opportunities to attend The National March for Life Expo and the historic National Pro-Life Summit, endorsed by MCFL, Saturday. PLEASE PRE-REGISTER FOR the Summit below.

This trip, including the 2 night stay,  is an ideal trip for someone who is looking to maximize their March For Life experience and looking to take advantage of all of the pro-life activities taking place before and after the March. 

THURSDAY:

Mass at 8:00 AM is an option for all Catholics joining the bus tour

MARCH FOR LIFE EXPO (9:00 AM-8:00 PM), Renaissance Downtown DC Hotel

YOUTH RALLY (2:00 PM), Renaissance Downtown DC Hotel

Massachusetts pre-March meetup, with a bit of complimentary cheer, at the Marriott Marquis lounge, 5:00PM-8:00 PM

FRIDAY:

MARCH FOR LIFE EXPO 8:00-10:00 AM

Pre-Rally Concert on the National Mall (11:00 AM-12:00 PM)

MARCH FOR LIFE RALLY, featuring Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) (Noon)

47TH-ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE (12:30-4:00 PM) National Mall to US Supreme Court Building

CONSISTENT LIFE MEET-UP (2-5:00 PM, Southeast Library, 403 7th St SE, Washington, DC 20003)

MARCH FOR LIFE ROSE DINNER (6:00 PM Cocktail Hour, 7:00 PM Dinner) Renaissance Downtown Hotel, DC

SATURDAY:

NATIONAL PRO-LIFE SUMMIT (by Students for Life and Live Action, endorsed by MCFL) (8:00 AM-5:30 PM)

Peaceful Sidewalk Counseling at Planned Parenthood: Gather at the DC Planned Parenthood between 8:00 AM and noon. Enjoy some fellowship afterwards. (1225 4th St. NE Near the NoMa Gallaudet Metro stop)

>>>Depart: Wednesday, January 22th at 8:00 PM from Riverside Station (367 Grove St, Newton, MA) to arrive Thursday, January 23rd, at BASILICA OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE ~7:30 AM

>>>Return: Saturday, January 25th, 7:00 PM from BASILICA OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE to arrive in Newton early Sunday, Jan. 26th

Western Mass.: Day Trip -- January 23-24, 2020

Depart 10:00 PM from St. Stanislaus Church, Chicopee

Return at approximately midnight on the morning of Saturday, January 25.

To make reservations, please call (413-583-5034) or email (pbradford@masscitizensforlife.org) Peggy Bradford. Round-trip bus fare from Chicopee is $72.00. MCFL is proud to partner with the diocese of Springfield for this itinerary.

The Massachusetts meeting spot before the March on Friday, January 24th, will be at Constitution and 12th. Check it out on the map below! We'll meet at approximately 12:30pm.

Find additional buses from our chapters or partners here.