Join the Fall 2020 40 Days for Life Campaign.

The last two years, MCFL has partnered with and sponsored the multiple 40 Days for Life campaigns in Massachusetts. The national movement, whose call to action has brought countless women hope and thousands of peaceful witnesses to use their presence to protect the unborn, returns on this Fall. "COVID, of course, was a concern," said one local leader, "But we can be safe and still show up for the unborn."

Scheduled for Sept. 23 through Nov. 1, the twice annual pro-life campaign strives to protect unborn babies from abortion through peaceful vigils outside abortion facilities, community outreach, prayer and fasting.

This year, while our members gear up to stand out for the children at Boston, Worcester, Beverley, and Western Massachusetts locations, we're also providing training on how to witness during a pandemic. A few key practices our members will be paying special attention to this Fall are:

• Social distancing. [ Keeping at least 6 feet distance between themselves and others ]
• Masks. [ All vigil participants will be wearing masks to reduce exposure to airborne pathogens. ]
• Signs, no literature. [ Instead, members will print local pregnancy help numbers large on their signs. ]
• Digital media. [ Our members have made signs with lists of apps, such What to Expect ,  or Little One Pregnancy App, both  pregnancy tracking applications for iPhone or Android smartphones. The in-app ultrasound images provided by these apps have saved many lives. ]

Since it began in 2007, witnesses with 40 Days for Life have seen over 17,226 babies rescued from abortion and 107 abortion facilities close, with nearly 206 abortion workers quitting during the campaigns as well.

What is crucial to these campaigns is their foundation: 40 Days is community-based and compassion-focused. The grassroots, as Martin Luther King Jr. remarked, is the only foundation for social movement that builds lasting societal hope and change. Some ways members and witness continue to offer support to women and families is by throwing baby showers, holding diaper drives, and by both referring women in-need to safe community support (food banks, housing, etc) or by offering it themselves.

“It’s important to be there because it really can help the women realize that they don’t have to choose abortion, that there are other options that aren’t going to be so detrimental,” said one woman, Jaylyn Smith, who now leads campaigns in Utah. 

We could not agree more. Our culture is one that shouts out options! in every arena, from the supermarket to the Planned Parenthood clinic. But when it comes to offering women true equality and support to choose their health and the health of their child, it just has one word: Abortion.

With 40 Days for Life, we continue to demonstrate that health and healthcare include both mother and baby. We make a list of countless options, and just our presence will repeatedly show women like this one that there's hope -- we we're there to support her before, during, and after the birth of that baby.

Go to 40 Days for Life today and search for your town/city to sign up for the Fall vigil as an MCFL member!

Donate to support the MCFL 40 Days For Life team.

"I so did not believe anyone would be out here. And if they were, I was sure they'd be a fat old man, with, like, MAGA tattooed on his forehead."

The young woman was in front of Planned Parenthood in Boston. In COVID-time, she was also on a surprisingly quiet Commonwealth Avenue. The few other human beings who passed were masked and serious and looped wide to avoid her and each other as they pushed by.

But she wasn't alone.

An MCFL member who has been reaching out to our staff since late-Spring for guidance on when to return to the sidewalk was also there. Her sign read, "You're strong. Choose hope. Look at your ultrasound."

The young woman had arrived that Friday morning looking for an abortion -- and asking for a sign. But she had told the Universe, if there wasn't a sign -- or if the sign-holder was an old white man -- she was aborting.

Well, the MCFL member* wasn't an old man. She was a quiet woman in a violet face mask with dark eyes behind big glasses and a singsong voice.

She was all that mother needed to see, and all her unborn baby** needed to have his or her life recognized and protected.

The importance of providing support and affirmation to women before they enter the abortion clinic can't be emphasized often enough. We have a society that has learned to treat women like burdens. As Boston, and the world, has had a light shone on how a system set in place can continue to dehumanize people despite the intentions of individuals, we see how the system of abortion has always treated women like problems, and their incredible ability to give life like a disease.

All we need as a society is continually to see that each of us can be workers on a new system: One that saves, protects, and cherishes vulnerable lives, and does not discard the woman or the child at any stage in their development. We can be like the woman this last Friday morning who was a sign of hope.

*The member asked to remain anonymous. Her story was taken by the director of community engagement and this article has been posted with her permission.

**This save was inspired by the #SaveBabyMyles campaign, and other members are returning to sidewalk counseling using safe social distancing to offer support to women and to be voices for the voiceless preborn babies. Whether online or in-person, you can join and save lives by checking the Baby Myles' story here.

Despite Massachusetts' Gov. Baker's ban on elective surgical procedures during the state of emergency surrounding the COVID-19's outbreak, Planned Parenthood has again put abortion promotion before women's safety. And not just women's safety -- the abortion industry giant has decided it's more important to abort than maintain safe social distancing during the pandemic.

In the New Boston Post report, MCFL is quoted:

We were disheartened to learn that, upon Governor Baker’s approval, elective abortion will still be permitted in the coming weeks, even while other elective surgeries have been prohibited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Women’s health and safety should be our top priority now, as always. Risking exposure to the highly contagious disease during visits to abortion clinics not only puts our women at risk but their families and those of clinic workers as well. This is yet another indication that the once-popular abortion-rights mantra ‘safe, legal, and rare’ is a complete farce. In the face of a global pandemic, the abortion industry once again demonstrates that protecting women’s health has never been its priority. Instead, the abortion lobby’s singular goal is to increase the bottom line, even at the expense of risking the health and wellbeing of those who enter their clinics and those who work at them during these unprecedented times.

MCFL President, Myrna Maloney Flynn, also spoke with reporters from The Daily Caller, where she offered a similar comment. It is critical to note the following:

We would like to invite you to write the governor in these challenging times, expressing your concern.

His office can receive email and phone calls at the following address:

PHONE:

 (617) 725-4005

ADDRESS:

ATTN: Governor Charlie Baker,  Massachusetts State House, Beacon St #280, Boston, MA 02133

Planned Parenthood, in their healthcare capacity, should be doubly aware of the risks during COVID-19. To insist on performing abortions is to insist that a woman's life has less value than that of the male population. That is not the spirit of our Commonwealth, and it is radically opposed to the fundamental fact of equal rights.

Whether pro-life or pro-choice, we have an obligation to speak out and speak up. One voice--yours--could very well save hundreds of preborn lives, along with as many lives of our born fellow citizens.

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.

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.