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

The doctor prescribed suicide bill has been voted favorably out of committee onto the house for a formal vote during the COVID pandemic. 

We need you to call the State House today and ask your legislator to vote NO on doctor prescribed death, S.2745. Call 617 - 722 - 2000 and request your representative's office by giving the operator your zip code.

You can also look up your representative using your zip code here and email them. You may also contact them via social media, and this is a great mini tutorial for doing just that: Social Media and Contacting Your Elected Representative

Listen to expert Dr. Mark Rollo's call to voters across the state here.

Some key points to remember when reaching your representative or posting on social media:

• COVID19 mostly kills the elderly, the already-ill and people with disabilities. The assisted suicide bill, S2745, will endanger these individuals even more.
• The doctors deciding who is eligible for assisted suicide are the same ones who were perfectly comfortable putting the elderly, the immunocompromised, and people with disabilities at the back of the line for life-preserving COVID treatment.  Legalized assisted suicide will make medical discrimination worse and ageism worse.
• The assisted suicide bill is fatally flawed and ripe for abuse, coercion and mistakes.   When care is expensive and suicide is cheap, the bill tells elders, the immuno-compromised, and people with life-threatening disabilities  that their lives are worth-less.
• If Massachusetts legalizes assisted suicide, some people’s lives will be ended without their consent, through insurance denials, mistakes and abuse.  No safeguards have ever been enacted, or even proposed, that can prevent this outcome which can never be undone once it is put into effect.

REMEMBER THE CALL TO ACTION:

Use the primary state house number (617 - 722 - 2000) and request your district representative and state senator’s offices.  Call and ask them to oppose S2745, the assisted suicide bill. Call the Health Care Financing Committee at  (617) 722-1432 to request that they allocate no funding for a bill that will take innocent lives.

You can also look up your representative using your zip code here and email them.

Send us your success reports via email or on social media! Your stories encourage your fellow citizens to continue to fight for the vulnerable!

cj@masscitizensforlife.org

Mass. Citizens on FaceBook

National Right to Life reports, that the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 13 on resolution to "ratify" the pro-abortion "Equal Rights Amendment"

[ This week's column by MCFL's president provides you with an easy to use phone script for calling your legislator, and members of the Judiciary Committee, to oppose the "ROE" Act. It also provides a quick refresher on the proposed law's provisions. ]

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President

By raising my voice, I can help the greatest of all causes—good will among men and peace on earth. - Albert Einstein

“Hello, this is Myrna Maloney Flynn from Massachusetts Citizens for Life. I received your voicemail. How can I help?”

On the other end of the line, a longtime MCFL member with a soft trilling brogue humbly explained, “I’m 86 now and can’t get down to the State House to lobby like I used to. So I will call their offices about that bill. I just don’t know what to say.” 

Like my new friend, you’ve got the power of your voice. And I’ve got a way for you to use it. Yes, it will take 15 minutes of your day. But it has the potential to save thousands of lives.

We learned this week that the Judiciary Committee extended until May 12 its deadline to report on the ROE Act. This means that they’ve got until then to decide whether or not they will allow legislators to vote on the radical, dangerous legislation. The new deadline may also be pushed back, however, so it is likely that we won't be able to rest easy until the end of the session on July 31st. 

Despite our strong showing at last June’s hearing, and subsequent petition delivery last fall—efforts that successfully stalled the bill, we have not defeated it. Yet. To do so, we need to doggedly continue our lobbying efforts. And the quickest, easiest first step lies in your hands and with your voice: call your legislators. We know from experience that these phone calls are important to stopping legislation.  

There are six people you have to call to make a difference, and it will only take a few minutes of your day: Your state representative, your state senator, and the four committee chairs. I'm sharing a sample script that you can alter for each one of them. When you call, ask to leave a message for the individual. It’s important to say you are a constituent.

Not sure who your representative or senator is? You can look them up here (https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator). 

State Representative/State Senator Sample Script

"Hello, I would like to leave a message for Representative/Senator [name]. My name is [your name]. I live in [your town], Massachusetts and I am a constituent. I implore that [he or she] OPPOSE [If Representative: House Bill 3320. If Senator: Senate Bill 1209] - the ROE Act. It is a horrific piece of legislation that threatens the lives of young girls. It is a setback for women and society, and it further threatens the lives of society's most vulnerable. If the bill comes up for a vote in the state legislature, I expect Representative/Senator [name] to vote against the ROE Act. Thank you for passing along my message. I appreciate your time on this imporant issue."

After you’ve called your state rep/senator, call each of the four Judiciary Committee Chairs:

Committee Chair Claire Cronin  -- (617) 722-2396

Committee Vice-Chair Representative Michael Day -- (617) 722-2396

Committee Chair Senator James Eldridge -- (617) 722-1120

Committee Vice-Chair Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz -- (617) 722-1673

Judiciary Committee member Sample Script

"Hello, I would like to leave a message for Judiciary Committee member [name]. My name is [your name]. I am a voter in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I've contacted my local representatives, and I want to voice my opposition to the ROE Act - House Bill 3320/Senate Bill 1209 - currently being debated in the Judiciary Committee. It is a horrific piece of legislation that threatens the lives of young girls, it is a setback for women and society, and it further threatens the lives of society's most vulnerable. I urge the committee NOT to let the ROE Act be voted out of committee, and, instead, let the deadline pass to stop the bill from being voted on at all. Thank you for passing along my message. I appreciate your time on this important issue."

If any of the staff members try to justify the legislator's positions, simply tell them that there is no justification for this type of legislation and that, as a constituent, the legislator represents you. Therefore, you expect him or her to vote against it. 

Your voice matters to them because they know you are a voter in their district! These calls matter, and the other side knows it, too. They’ve been urging their fellow abortion rights supporters to make similar calls. So now, more than ever, raise your voice on this, the greatest of all causes. 

Please share this email with like-minded people and urge them to make these important calls as well. If we don't let our voices be heard, everything that Massachusetts pro-lifers have accomplished in the last 47 years could be lost. Beneath my message you’ll find a reminder of what the ROE Act will mean for our women, girls, and infants if it is passed.

Thank you for your time, energy, and passion in protecting the vulnerable in Massachusetts.

Finally, below is a review of the ROE Act’s implications. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with them and use your knowledge to inform others. Most voters simply do not know the impact this legislation will have. This bill would essentially wipe out every common-sense, pro-life law on the books in the Commonwealth. 

If passed, the ROE Act will:

• Remove protections for newborn babies who are born alive having survived a failed abortion (opening the door to infanticide);
• Eliminate the requirement that a parent (or at least a judge) consent before a minor girl undergoes an abortion; allowing any adult who may be abusing them to cover up their assault by eliminating the need for a legal guardian to consent to any abortion. 
• Allow abortions of viable unborn babies to be performed outside of a hospital, meaning abortions can be done in any facility, even those lacking the most basic of medical standards like hallways wide enough for gurneys if a woman needs to be rushed to the hospital (A woman was recently rushed to a hospital in Massachusetts due to hemorrhaging after an abortion). This further endangers women. 
• Increase taxpayer funding of abortion, by diverting money from Healthy Start, a program intended to reduce infant mortality among the poor;
• Eliminate all criminal penalties for the performance of any abortion—whether coerced, sex-selective, eugenic, incompetently executed, performed by a non-physician, inflicted on a victim of sex trafficking, statutory rape, or other sexual abuse, etc.