By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President 

The year after Roe v. Wade, a blue-collar couple in their 40s was struggling to raise six kids, the youngest 11, when they learned the woman was pregnant. After Mass one day, a friend chided them, saying, “You know, there’s something you can do now.”

I’m Myrna Maloney Flynn. I’m here today because my parents knew the truth and gave me my life. I want to dedicate it to shining light on that truth to save others’ lives.

Every step I’ve taken in the last three decades has prepared me to successfully assume the MCFL presidency now. I studied communications and political science. I hold a master’s degree in teaching. I’ll soon have an MBA.

I’ve lived in Japan and India, so I’ve observed the cultural value of human life from vastly different perspectives. I taught high school in the Bronx, where I witnessed teen motherhood and minors who had abortions. I developed a thick skin while cold calling as a sales rep and an even sturdier spine as a TV reporter. I’ve helped lift startup companies off the ground, led successful nonprofit fundraisers, and sailed past development goals at community events. For the past five years, I’ve held leadership positions in higher education -- an industry, widely known to support abortion rights, that forced me to speak for those who cannot.

I am blessed to have a husband of 16 years, who has become one of my closest pro-life advisors. We thank God each day for our four children.

I self-nominated for a seat on MCFL’s board and was elected last year. Since then, I’ve been invited to participate in nearly all aspects of MCFL’s internal operations and have leveraged my role as director before external audiences as well. In March, I was unanimously elected vice president, an honor and opportunity that I determinedly made the most of.

• I’ve re-established ties with key pro-life advocates in western Mass., resulting in a new list of 150 contacts and the first pro-life club at Amherst College
• I’ve taken on the role of spokesperson, representing MCFL in the media, before Anti-fascists at our March for Life, testifying at last week’s S.1209 hearing, delivering remarks at the State House rally and at Northampton’s City Council Meeting; and creatively appealing to our members at events and online
• I’ve forged a relationship with MassGOP and the leadership at MFI, Renew MA, SBA List and the Charlotte Lozier Institute  
• I hosted MCFL’s first-ever Northampton rally, in a bitterly cold rain, among that city’s numerous and vocal pro-choice residents
• Crazy, yes. But it served the purpose of getting Senator Comerford’s attention as well as a meeting with her
• You can read about that in the new magazine issue, which I helped produce

When you think of lobbying, you probably think of State House halls, formal letters, or official meetings scheduled in offices or quiet restaurants. But what you may not know is that nearly every one of your legislators now has an active presence on social media, and their Facebook and Twitter accounts are as valid and impactful a meeting ground as their offices.

In fact, sometimes, social media causes a greater impact than a formal letter these days, because on social media, one message may not just reach your representative or senator. One message may reach your entire district.

And that kind of reach is a reality every politician watches like a hawk.

Here are the easy steps to finding, reaching, and engaging your legislator online. Double your lobbying efforts by reaching out via social media, bring your fellow state citizens to the conversation, and raise awareness of the laws and proposed laws threatening or supporting human lives in Massachusetts.

1. Do you know who your representatives are? Who your senator is? If not, start here: Plug in Your Address and Receive Your Legislators' Full Contact Information (click here to search).

2. Do you have FaceBook? If so, take the names of your representatives to your FaceBook toolbar, and type them in. 

It should look like this in your browser.

3. Do you have Twitter? If so, take the names of your senator or representatives and type them into the search bar on your Twitter feed.

If your senator or representative has an account, it should show up like this in your browser:

Click on the name in the search results, then select follow. Now, you can either tweet at them, or send them a direct message.

This past week, the abortuary in Fitchburg run by Planned Parenthood and forty miles outside Boston, closed. 

Despite raucous claims of being a key provider of women's healthcare in Massachusetts and beyond, this facility and most others serve to perform abortions. Inconvenient? Not to the women and children who enter Planned Parenthood looking for care, and get a sales pitch for killing their preborn son or daughter. Yet in hearings on S1209/H3320 ("An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Access to Abortion In MA"), NARAL and Planned Parenthood representatives repeatedly decried the restrictions and hardships involved for women desperately seeking abortions in the state.

This is why, they argued, we need to legalize abortion up-to-birth for any reason, remove parental consent for minors seeking abortion, and cut the part of our law that ensures women are treated in hospitals by an MD during the grueling sometimes 3-day late-term abortion procedure.

But are adults obstacles?

In a state with perhaps the best healthcare in the nation, and leading healtchare in the world, are hospitals obstacles?

Not obstacles to the safety of our women, or of our girls. 

But both are obstacles to Planned Parenthood's profit margin, since abortions form the majority of their services and cash-flow.

This week, your participation is imperative.

The grisly anti-life bills s1209/h3320, which you testified against last Monday are joined by a bill pushing doctor prescribed death. 

It is so important that Stephanie Packer and Dr Brian Callister are flying in.

DPS is the only topic on the Public Health Care Committee agenda. We expect the hearing to end on time.