President's Column

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President

As far as this business of solitary confinement goes, the most important thing for survival is communication with someone . . . It makes all the difference. -John McCain

Joy’s text said the package arrived just in time. I'd sent her several issues of MCFL’s member magazine featuring her daughter, Hope, who was diagnosed at 12 weeks gestation with an occipital encephalocele, meaning her brain developed outside of her skull. Joy and her husband were told their child was “not compatible with life” and were advised to abort. Now five months old, Hope defied the odds. As I write this, the family is on their way to Boston for Hope’s first surgery this week. They wanted to make sure our magazine got to family and friends before they left. 

Please keep Hope, her doctors, and the Dupells in your thoughts and prayers. 

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About an hour after I sent my April 11 email, in which I shared the compelling story of a Springfield teen who’d recently chosen life for her son, I received a response from a new MCFL member and volunteer named Faith Delaney, who wrote, “MCFL helped me when I was pregnant at age 23, unwed, and my boyfriend wanted me to get an abortion. I was pro-life and followed my beliefs. . . My son is now 32, I went to law school, and have a successful practice in Merrimack Valley. I will donate again but would like to speak to teens when we are allowed to gather.”

Our summer magazine issue will include Faith’s story, along with several other timely, informative, and inspiring pieces. We have chosen to highlight the women of Massachusetts’ pro-life movement, past and present. I got a sneak peek at the contents last week; the issue's going to be one of our best.   

The magazine is just one MCFL membership benefit. Members receive voting privileges, ultimately electing the organization’s Board members at our Annual Meeting (due to the pandemic, this will likely be held in the second half of 2020). And when MCFL heads to Beacon Hill, we go on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves, but we also represent our members at the State House and fight on their behalf. In fact, despite the shutdown, my team and I continue our first-of-its-kind strategic lobbying effort with partner organizations and will soon deliver this united message to state representatives on behalf of our thousands of supporters: “Say No to ROE!”

Perhaps the benefit most coveted by our members, though, are the advance event invitations they receive to our well-known and much-anticipated gatherings. 

• Members in 2020 will have first dibs on a seat at a November 10th Harvard debate between international pro-life activist Stephanie Gray and campus abortion rights supporters; 
• Our members are already looking forward to one of MCFL’s most influential traditions, the Massachusetts March for Life, to be held November 7; 
• Members out west will welcome Alveda King on October 15 to celebrate our postponed Mother’s Day Dinner;
• And, of course, MCFL members receive advance invitations to our premier event: the annual fundraising banquet, to be held on Thursday, September 17 at the Four Points Sheraton. It is my honor to announce Melissa Ohden as our keynote speaker.  

Melissa is the survivor of a failed saline infusion abortion in 1977. Despite the initial concerns regarding her future after surviving the attempt to end her life at approximately seven months gestation, Melissa has not only survived but thrived. She is a Master’s-level prepared social worker, the author of You Carried Me: A Daughter's Memoir, and the founder and director of The Abortion Survivors Network. Melissa is a frequent contributor to pro-life news outlets and a regular guest on radio and television programs around the world. Fulfilling the purpose that she believes God set out for her when He saved her from the certain death of the abortion attempt, Melissa is truly a voice for the voiceless.

If you’re an MCFL member, then you can relate to the value membership brings. If you’re not, I hope you will join today—to experience our events in a new way, to expand your knowledge though our magazine, to influence MCFL’s leadership and, with your powerful vote, propel this phenomenal organization toward a forward-thinking, vibrant, lifegiving new decade.  

I wish you a wonderful week! As we each continue our confinement, I hope you receive all varieties of communication from friends and family, as I have, that make you laugh, prompt a good deed, elicit a prayer, and ensure our common survival.

|| Connect || Join || Donate ||

By Don Feder - Two celebrity suicides just days apart – a celebrated chef and a fashion icon. Both were said to be depressed. Big news -- like happy people kill themselves.

2018 Oratory Contest participants: Liam Siegler, Gabrielle Landry, and Zoe Henderson. (The fourth contestant, Timothy O'Brien, submitted his speech by video.)

Massachusetts Citizens for Life held its 2018 annual convention on Saturday, March 24, 2018, gathering dozens of pro-lifers from around the state to learn more about what is really happening in abortions today. While fewer and fewer abortions are being performed every year in the Commonwealth, there are new ways in which the lives of the unborn are threatened, new attitudes among people about life and abortion, and a new need to approach both mother and child as being under threat and in need of our love and care.

The event was graciously hosted by Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton, and everyone there were so very helpful and made the day go so smoothly in their accommodating facilities. We are very grateful to them for welcoming us.

The following article originally appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of the MCFL News magazine, a perk of membership mailed out quarterly to all members.

It wasn't that long ago that embryonic stem cells were touted as lifesaving research that merited funding with billions of taxpayer dollars. Pro-life objections to the destruction of human embryos were categorized as cold-hearted, anti-science sentimentality. Then, in 2007, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka discovered a way to reprogram adult cells to act as embryonic cells. Called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), Yamanaka's discovery made the destructive science virtually obsolete. There is still not a single validated case of lifesaving results with embryonic stem cells.

Dr. David Prentice, Vice President and Research Director for the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), reports that over 1.5 million people have been treated with adult stem cells, resulting in lives saved and health improved for dozens of diseases and medical conditions. Prentice said, “Within the past year there have been many advances in adult stem cell science, including new strategies and advances using adult stem cells to treat stroke, even years after the stroke event; multiple sclerosis, putting people into remission, not just stopping progression of the disease; and improving repair of both knee joints as well as damaged hearts.”

By Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Pro-lifers rightly observe that the pro-aborts have taken over the media, entertainment, etc. We also know that it is our job to keep the awful reality of abortion right in front of people. We know that people would rather not think about abortion but, when they are forced to, they come down on the side of life.

A very clever collection of pro-life art on Instagram plays into both these facts. The art posted by Instagram user @jonathonvanmaren gets us into the arts and forces people to think about abortion. I find myself noting certain pieces which I think would be good to share.

By Nancy Valko

A disturbing statement made by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for life, appearing to support the European Court of Human Rights decision to reject Baby Charlie Gard’s parents’ request to go to the US for an experimental treatment for their critically ill son struck a nerve with many Catholics. And although Pope Francis quickly expressed his support for Baby Charlie and his parents shortly after the statement, the ethical issue of experimental treatment remains confusing to many people, Catholic or not.

But what has the Catholic Church really said about experimental means?

Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s Summer Academy brings pro-life high school students together for workshops and seminars that equip them to become pro-life ambassadors in their schools and communities. Part of the experience is learning to get up in public and speak about life issues and so we’ll be bringing you some of the speeches that the 2017 participants gave this summer.

By Sarah Ryan

I thought I should preface this by telling you that I am extremely nervous - for two reasons. The first is that I am not a fan of public speaking. It doesn’t matter if there are ten of you or ten thousand of you, I will inevitably turn red, have shaky hands, and stumble over my words.

But there is another reason why I’m nervous. I’m nervous because I am not the same person I once was. If you had met me five years ago, three years ago, possibly even a year ago, you would be meeting an entirely different person from who I am today.

On Saturday, April 8, a beautiful spring day, several dozen pro-lifers gathered on the Boston College campus for Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s annual convention to hear speakers and to hold discussions on topics ranging from abortion to physician-assisted suicide.

(See photos from the day at the end of this article.)

The theme of the day was “Keep the Momentum Going,” based on the fact that nationwide and in Massachusetts, the pro-life movement is making advances. Anne Fox, president of MCFL, explained, "Abortions are down one-third in the country as a whole and down 55% in Massachusetts, pro-life legislators are in the majority in Congress and in virtually all the state legislatures, we have elected a pro-life President and … we'll have a new Supreme Court Justice whom we expect to rule fairly on life cases. This is amazing momentum on which we plan to build."