BAKER VETOES "R.O.E." ACT (H.5179) Christmas Eve; PRO-LIFE CITIZENS' MESSAGE, "KILL BILL, NOT BABY"

MCFL mobilized thousands of citizens across the state to call the governor's office from Thanksgiving onward. "He clearly heard the message," say members.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- December 28, 2020, Boston, MA -- Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCFL)  applauds Governor Baker's action on December 24, 2020, Christmas Eve, vetoing the heinously anti-life bill H.5179, also and previously known as An Act Removing Obstacles and Expanding Access to Abortion in MA.

"Kill the bill, not the baby!" said Fernando Limbo, a member based in Revere, "Even our pro-choice governor can see the harm in this bill, and thank God for this Christmas Eve gift protecting life."

H.5179, nearly the same as "R.O.E."'s earlier draft, still:

• Allows underage girls to get abortions without their parents’ consent or even knowledge. (340 girls under the age of 18 had abortions in Massachusetts in 2019. Under this legislation their parents would no longer have the right to even know.)

• Allows doctors to deny life-saving medical care to a clearly viable baby born alive during an abortion. This is known as “passive infanticide.”

• Extends legal abortion all the way to 40 weeks for effectively any reason “to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.” (emphasis added)

Speaker of the House, Robert DeLeo, responded--utilizing his Christmas Eve to promise that the House would "override the veto."

“It is appalling that, on the eve of the birth of Christ, Speaker DeLeo would promise to ram through legislation that expands the killing of babies,” said Patricia Stewart, Esq., Executive Director of MCFL.

The original bill, H.3320/S.1209, languished in committee, unable to fight commonsense opposition by citizens on both sides of the party line. Representative Claire Cronin drafted an amendment to the annual state budget to underhandedly sneak the deadly bill into law before the new year.

Following her action, both House and Senate approved the bill; but Baker rejected it.

"We expect our lawmakers to listen both to their hearts -- and their constituents," said C.J. Williams, MCFL Director of Community Engagement, "This bill is about abortion, at any cost. It is about so-called access--even to the detriment of women's health. It is not pro-choice, it is not pro-life. Kill this bill, not our babies -- and not our women!"

Members and other citizens will be contacting their state representatives all this week with just that message. Kill the bill, not the baby. H.5179 was vetoed for good reason; and MCFL expects our lawmakers in Massachusetts to respect the lives of its citizens and the voices of their constituents.

“Tell them Massachusetts MUST do better than the”R.O.E.” Act,” said MCFL President, Myrna Maloney Flynn, “For all of our citizens: Our women, our infants, and our daughters.”'

Easy-to-use list of state representatives here. You're the one they need to hear from -- tell them to kill the bill, not the baby, and to sustain the veto!

ACTION ALERT: Call Your State SENATOR!

Look up your senator at this link: http://malegislature.gov/search/findmylegislator

Governor Charlie Baker vetoed H.5179 on Christmas Eve

This week, it returned to the House of Representatives, where it originated. The House overrode the governor's veto. What we need you to do is email, call, and send social media messages to your state senator, and to at least two others on the list here  asking them to sustain the veto. While messages from constituents will make the largest impact, we need ALL Massachusetts citizens to continue to email and call their senators.

 --Thank you all who called the below representatives tirelessly this last week urging them to stand with courage for the lives our little ones and women.

We we will be providing a roll-call vote record when we have it, showing how your representatives voted on the veto. You can then choose to vote these men or women out of office. This is the original list, linked here. 

These men and women have committed to upholding the rights of our fellow citizens, and creating just and life-affirming laws. An elitist, out-of-touch legislature is not a just governing body; we look forward to removing the men and women from office who have not voted to protect life in our state.

MOST CURRENT UPDATE on the "R.O.E." Act -- refiled as H.5179  (12/17/2020)

"R.O.E." failed to pass committee review after thousands of citizens gathered to oppose it in bth 2019 and 2020. Pro-abortion lobbyists then inserted the provisions found in "R.O.E" into the annual state budget, where house and senate versions were reconciled as "section 40" and sent to Governor Baker for approval or veto. Governor Baker had previously stated that he would veto "R.O.E" and reject any legislation including its provisions that legalize passive infanticide and remove parental consent. Baker rejected most of the pro-abortion provisions, including the lowering of consent for our children to 16 and removing parental consent. He left in provisions that would permit passive infanticide. 

Representatives Marc Lombardo and Allyson Sullivan have introduced an amendment to the state budget to protect our infants born alive during an abortion,  “Guaranteeing Medical Care to Babies Born Alive,” which reads as follows:

If an abortion is performed pursuant to section 12-N, the facility where the abortion is performed shall maintain life-supporting equipment, as defined by the department of public health, the physician performing the abortion must use life saving measures to preserve the life and health of a live birth and the patient.

Contact your state representative to ask him or to support the amendment, "Guaranteeing Medical Care to Babies Born Alive," and tell them you expect them to support a veto of the budget if it includes the "R.O.E" Act's

abortion expansion.

 You can look up your senator at MALEGISLATURE.GOV/findmylegislator

BREAKING: GOVERNOR BAKER LINE-VETOES ABORTION SECTION OF STATE BUDGET (ROE ACT)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- DECEMBER 11, 2020 -- This afternoon, Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, approved the 46B state budget bill but line-vetoed segments of Section 40, which contained egregious provisions, expanding abortion.

He retained the section permitting abortion at and after 24 weeks in cases of so-called "fatal fetal abnormalities", even though that term is ambiguous and not defined in the bill and opens the door to fatal error. Hope Dupell, who just celebrated her first birthday, was diagnosed with a lethal condition while in the womb. Fortunately, she thrives today as a living example of a life that a deadly mistake under this provision would have extinguished.

"Although there remains much in this bill with which to take issue, we thank Governor Baker for the common sense recommendation to raise the age for consent to abortion to 18,” said MCFL Executive Director, Patricia Stewart. Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Massachusetts Citizens for Life
http://www.masscitizensforlife.org/

Massachusetts single solely-dedicated pro-life human rights organization since 1973.