The "R.O.E." Act, or S.1209/H.3320, having stalled in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, has been re-packaged by Representative Claire Cronin as Amendment 759 to the Annual Massachusetts Budget. 

The ROE Act, now Amendment 759: Just the facts

compiled by a legal team of pro-life attorneys and lobbyists

• Amendment #789 to H5150 would eliminate current laws requiring that physicians “take all reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of the aborted child” — The following language in the current law is clear in its requirement to preserve the life of the child:

Section 12P. If an abortion is performed pursuant to section twelve M, the physician performing the abortion shall take all reasonable steps, both during and subsequent to the abortion, in keeping with good medical practice, consistent with the procedure being used, to preserve the life and health of the aborted child.

The new language states only that there must be “life-supporting equipment” present, and eliminates the requirement for the abortionist to actually USE it.

• This amendment would allow for abortions after a 24-week period, citing that it only be deemed “necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health”
• Children born after the 24-week mark, ​according to the New England Journal of Medicine,​ if provided with medical treatment, have a survival rate of more than 50 percent — a number that jumps up to 72 percent at 25 weeks.
• The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, named after former Planned Parenthood president and eugenics supporter Dr. Allan Frank Guttmacher, has acknowledged​ “that most women seeking later terminations are ​not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.”
• This amendment repeals parental consent requirements for minors between the ages of 16 and 17, and allows doctors to waive the requirement for parental consent for girls of ANY age who believe they may be pregnant.
• This amendment expands who can perform an abortion to now include a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or nurse midwife.

OPPOSE the insertion of "R.O.E." Act provisions into our annual budget NOW. Call your state representative.

Weekly Column

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President

As you plan your week, I want to let you know how our state legislators may be planning theirs. With the election behind us and time running out on the current two-year legislative session, our elected officials are lining up tasks like bowling pins, positioning them just so, primed for a strike. Among the bills that could be presented for a vote in the coming days: the ROE Act and Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. 

A few reminders about the ROE Act:

• The name of this legislation is an acronym -- Remove Obstacles and Expand Access to Abortion. It has nothing to do with Roe vs. Wade. 
• It aims to make abortion more “accessible” (in a state where nearly 20,000 abortions are already performed each year). 
• If passed, the bill would enable girls as young as 12 to obtain abortions without any adult, except the abortionist, knowing about it. 
• ROE would remove life-saving medical equipment from rooms where abortions are performed, risking the lives of babies, Massachusetts citizens, who survive the procedure. 
• ROE would legalize any late-term abortion up through the 9th month of pregnancy.
• You, the taxpayer, would see more of your own money paying for every one of these atrocious human rights violations.

Because it’s Monday, and we’re back to work and school, let’s do this. True or false: Proponents claim we must pass ROE, now that Amy Coney Barrett is a Supreme Court Justice, increasing the likelihood that the Court will overturn Roe vs. Wade. 

True!

Yet what’s false is the implication that overturning the landmark 1973 decision will outlaw abortion in Massachusetts. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, nothing will change here. Abortion will still be legal. But that’s not what ROE Act supporters say. They are pushing a dangerous bill because the public is listening, not for any valid reason. Even Governor Baker, who is pro-choice, agrees that our current abortion law is sufficient and the ROE Act is unnecessary. And here's the kicker that no one is talking about. In the unlikely event that abortion is outlawed at the federal level, then the ROE Act is moot. In any scenario, this bill is senseless.

Also at the top of the state legislature’s priority list in the coming days: Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. Read about the dangers of this at the Patients Rights Action Fund, then urge your legislator to block this bill as well. 

You’ve got the ability to call or write to your legislators, urging them to to vote against both of these life-devaluing bills. Harness the motivation you feel in the wake of Saturday’s election results -- we will not stop fighting for life in the four years ahead. If anything, we will fight harder, with bigger hearts, a positive attitude, and bolstered by the truth that love and respect for the life of every person wins the day. 

Check out the “how to” below, then take five minutes to contact your legislator now. 

Thank you for partnering with us! We are so proud to be alongside you in this most important issue of them all. 

Here's how to find your state representative if you do not know their name or contact information.

1. Go to Find My Legislator here on the MA Legislature web page.
2. Type in your address and include your zip code.
3. After you have entered your address, a new page will show up.
4. Click on the names of your state senator and state representative. You will be taken to a page with their email and their phone number.

Call and email them to today, telling them our state does not need ROE or Doctor-Prescribed Suicide. 

If you've never called your state representative, this handy phone script may help!

Remember, 100% of our operating budget is funded by individual members like you. Please consider signing up to support our life-saving work on a monthly basis, or make a one-time contribution here.

Member DeeDee Dorrington describes each point in our law removed by the "R.O.E." Act. This bill would directly erase medical safeguards for women and infants in Massachusetts, and promote late-term abortion access for any reason over the safety of our daughters and our women. Watch the video below, and share with your friends! Pro-life and pro-choice voters agree: "R.O.E" is a a huge NO because it would permit infanticide, remove 3-day long grueling late-term abortions from the hospital setting, and and remove parental consent and judicial supervision of our underage daughters who might be at-risk for abortion.

Watch here.

Call the Judiciary Committee and tell them you expect them to reject "R.O.E" (S.1209/H.3320) by or before November 12th!

Chair Claire Cronin: (617) 722-2396

Vice Chair Michael Day: (617) 722-2396

Today, the ROE Act threatens children like Hope and women like Keisha Atkins. It not only threatens them and the unborn, it specifically targets the marginalized and underrepresented members of our society, and it substitutes an abortion lobby's special interests for respectful, loving care.

Not even voters who consider themselves pro-choice think it’s a good idea to remove parental consent and adult supervision for 12-year-old girls entering abortion centers. Nor do they agree that it’s safe for women to undergo dangerous, late-term abortions in unregulated outpatient clinics.

That's why we will stop the ROE Act before it goes any further. This dangerous bill has had its reporting deadline EXTENDED to November 12, despite the legislative session's close on July 31st.

Legislators need to hear that you do not support this radical bill. 

WE NEED YOU TO CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR AND THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE EACH WEEK UNTIL NOVEMBER 12.

√√ Use this main State House number (617) 722-2000 to request your legislator. Next call (617) 722-2396 to reach Chair Rep. Claire Cronin and Vice Chair Rep. Michael Day at the offices of the Judiciary Committee.

√√ Share this call-to-action with your friends and family. Forward it with a personal invitation to join you in calling the State House today.

√√ Get on social media and share the State House number and this easy to use call script with key dangers included in the "ROE" Act. 

Please shoot us an email with any questions or needs.  

I'm calling personally with you each week -- for my fellow women, our preborn people, and our children endangered by the "ROE" Act. 

Live joyfully,

C.J.

On July 30th, 2020, a little before noon, C.J. and Maria approached the State House, pulling a suitcase packed with thousands of citizens' signatures opposing the "ROE" Act.

 But even though we had contacted the Joint Committee on the Judiciary offices ahead of time, our team had an unpleasant surprise.

After trying three different angles with the security guards -- and then a fourth ("We have petitions to deliver." "It's time sensitive." "We aren't the general public." "Would you be willing to help us and carry the box upstairs?) C.J. and Maria retreated to the lobby. 

No one was working that day, they were told. Everyone is remote.

But if you really want to get something done -- and when lives, and the future of your state are involved -- you do it. In this case, the lives on the line are those of Massachusetts' women, babies like Hope and like Melissa, and our 13 and 14 year old girls' like Veronica.

Multiple phone calls later, C.J. reached Representative Michael Day's aide.

Thank you, Dan! Not only did Dan take the entire box of petitions, and your signatures opposing the "ROE" Act it contained, he gave us a social-distanced elbow-bump and good luck as well.

The campaign isn't over yet though. Due to the governor's declaration of a state of emergency, the legislature may continue to deliberate on bills past the July 31st date. 

Help us continue to advocate for our women and the unborn babies in Massachusetts by donating here today.

To all of you who have signed the petition, shared on social media, and called the committee offices with us every day, THANK YOU. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MASSACHUSETTS PRO-LIFE CITIZENS DELIVER THOUSANDS OF SIGNATURES OPPOSING “ROE” ACT

Press Contact:

C.J. Williams

857 302 0466

cj@masscitizensforlife.org

July 30, 2020 -- Boston, MA -- Just over a year after rallying more than 1,000 citizens at the State House to oppose the “ROE” Act (S.1209/H.3320) during its 2019 public hearing, Massachusetts Citizens for Life members and staff will deliver thousands of “No to ROE” petitions at noon on Thursday, July 30th.

The bill, heavily supported by abortion rights organizations, including NARAL and the Planned Parenthood Federation of Massachusetts, eliminates significant amounts of text in current abortion law, resulting in legislation that proves too extreme for many citizens to swallow, even those who identify as pro-choice.

If voted into law, the “ROE” Act would deny medical care to babies who survive failed abortions. Girls as young as 12 would be able to have an abortion without any adult knowing about it. Additionally, “ROE” would remove medical standards of care for women undergoing the grueling multi-day late-term abortion procedure, placing these life-threatening surgeries in unregulated clinics. In New Mexico, where this practice is standard, Albuquerque’s abortion facility, Southwest Medical, currently faces prosecution in the wrongful deaths of 13 women.

“Our supporters continue to call their legislators daily, urging them to reject this flawed attempt at ‘care’ for Massachusetts women. Even if the current legislative session is extended indefinitely, we will continue to speak on behalf of our members to oppose this radical and unsafe bill for as for as long as it takes to defeat it,” said MCFL President Myrna Maloney Flynn.

“This bill has, thankfully, received considerable attention since it was introduced last year. Its dangerous implications have raised alarms among both pro-life and pro-abortion voters across the state,” Flynn continued. “We are honored to deliver thousands of petitions to Beacon Hill today, because we know that each one represents a passionate ‘no’ to this bill from residents of Massachusetts who care deeply about the health and safety of our women, our girls, our infants, and the unborn.”

The petition delivery will be made by members of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, who are acutely sensitive to current circumstances caused by the pandemic.

“We wouldn’t come out under other circumstances,” says C.J. Williams, MCFL’s director of community engagement. “But if we value our fellow citizens enough to lock down the entire state to save the most at risk from COVID, shouldn’t we oppose laws that will take those very lives, the lives of the most vulnerable among us?”

“I’ve called every day for the last month to ask the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to consider the dangerous implications of this bill. I’m definitely delivering petitions,” said David Lehr, a member from Everett.

The signatures were collected online, during events, and through a direct mail campaign. This will be the second delivery. Williams, and three others, delivered nearly 2,000 last fall as well.

###

Massachusetts Citizens for Life, founded in 1973 by women such as Dr. Mildred Jefferson, remains the Bay State’s singly-dedicated human rights organization focused on pro-life activism. 

DOES YOUR CALL TO OPPOSE ROE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Yes, it does.

The legislative aides to the chair and vice chair told one of our members that the calls had been pouring in. "We count them. Every one."

But what if it's difficult to get on the phone? You may be working odd hours, have children at home, or just hate the phone and feel unable to communicate that way with a state representative. 

When you say, "incompatible with life," is this who you mean?

Baby Hope was diagnosed with what doctors said was a fatal brain abnormality. So they told her mom to end the life of Baby Hope. 

But since when does our society promote killing as a treatment for disability?

She is alive and thriving today, proving the doctors wrong. This is the face of "incompatible with life." And this is what "ROE" Act supporters call "abortion access."

The "ROE" Act would make taking Hope's life legal.

Call the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Committee today.

Ask them to shelve the "ROE" Act, and protect Hope.

Chair Claire Cronin

(617) 722-2396

Claire.Cronin@mahouse.gov

Vice Chair Michael Day

(617) 722-2396

Michael.Day@mahouse.gov

For more information on the "ROE" Act, and a call script, click here.

Today, abortion supporters, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, are rallying virtually in an effort to bring about a vote on the "ROE" Act. 

Legislators need to hear that you do not support this radical bill. 

WE NEED YOU TO CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR & THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TODAY

The "ROE" Act would remove protections for newborn babies born alive during an abortion; risk our women's lives by removing hospital care for those undergoing grueling late term abortion; and endanger our young girls by denying them parental or adult support supervision at an abortion clinic.

√√ Use this main State House number (617) 722-2000 and request the offices of the Judiciary Committee

√√ Share this call to action with your friends and family -- forward it to at least 6 friends with a personal invitation to join you in calling the State House today.

√√ Get on social media and share the State House number and this easy to use call script with key dangers included in the "ROE" Act. 

Our whole team will be calling at NOON today during the virtual rally. But please feel free to email CJ with questions or needs anytime today. ( CJ@masscitizensforlife.org)

Send us photos of your pro-life rally via phone! We may be physically distanced, but social media can keep us loud, clear, and connected for life!

Pro-life women making the call this morning

MEDIA ADVISORY: ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL VOTED ON "FAVORABLY" IN MASSACHUSETTS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY

Boston, MA - 9 June 2020 -- Last week, the members of the Joint Committee on Public Health voted S.2745 (previously S.1208), "An Act Relative to End of Life Options" favorably out of committee.  

This is the first time in history a bill related to physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has cleared its committee assignment.

Patricia Stewart, Esq., executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and one of the Commonwealth’s leading experts in the legalities of PAS, said: "The bill’s soothing catch phrases can disguise, but they cannot change, the bill’s ugly reality, which is the intentional ending of a human life in secret. We cannot permit this dangerous policy to become law in Massachusetts. The life of our most vulnerable family members and neighbors depend on it."

Difficulties in ensuring Massachusetts’ high standards of patient care, and the impossibility of protecting at-risk patients from abuse, have plagued this version of the bill and its predecessors. Citizens and legislators have shelved it repeatedly, while out-of-state suicide advocates have lobbied it back onto the agenda again and again.

Dr. Mark Rollo, MCFL board member and family physician in Fitchburg, MA, highlighted the bill’s perils in an automated call reaching citizens across the state.

       State sanctioned suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.  The American Medical Association has strongly rejected it.  Physicians make mistakes. No law can include a safe guard for this simple fact.

1. Elder abuse will be exacerbated via potential coercion to take suicide pills.
2. Insurance companies will have an incentive to cut costs by denying expensive care and approving the affordable solution of suicide.
3. The COVID-19 pandemic elicited discussion of rationing of care, putting people with disabilities and the elderly at the end of the line.  The same logic can be applied to assisted suicide.
4. Recent mass protests have reminded us that minorities still suffer from discrimination.  Inevitably the poor and people of color will be steered toward suicide.

MCFL, in its mission to protect and respect the lives of every individual human being in Massachusetts, continues to oppose this bill and this week encouraged its members to contact their state representatives. The response has been tremendous.

"There is nothing more painful than witnessing a loved one face the challenges that often accompany the end of life. Yet there is nothing more precious than the human life itself," said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. "And so there is never too much energy or care we can expend when it comes to seeing our laws reflect that truth. This bill is deeply flawed, whatever your stance on the issue, and will endanger our at-risk neighbors and family. There are far more meaningful and humane end-of-life options our society should promote, namely palliative care and hospice services.”

For press queries:

Please email action@masscitizensforlife.org