This is part of a series of stories, Massachusetts Speaks, in which mothers, fathers, and siblings report their personal losses from abortion. The below is written by a father who attended Boston College.

By Theo Purington III

In October of 2006, I found out I wa a father. My girlfriend of six months was pregnant with our child. Neither of us planned this pregnancy, or had even talked about the possibility of getting pregnant. That was about to become my biggest regret. Like I said, I wasn’t ready to have a child. She said she couldn’t go forward with the birth of a child and wanted to abort. She went to the nursing staff at Boston College a week or two after she found out she was pregnant.

The nurse at B.C. told her that she would be better off having an abortion, and told her where she could get one. I didn’t make a big deal of it at the time because I wanted her to stay calm and positive. I drove her to a crisis pregnancy center in Boston when she was 5 weeks pregnant, so that she could explore her options other than having an abortion. The women at the center set up a date for her to get an ultrasound so she could see her child. We went to get her first ultrasound when she was 5 weeks pregnant.

We weren’t able to see much at this point, but we did see the heartbeat of our child. The technologist said it was too early in the pregnancy to see our baby, and to come back in 2 1/2- 3 weeks. We came back three weeks later for another ultrasound, and that’s when we saw our baby. Our child was at eight weeks gestation, and he had fingers, toes, eyes, everything. I saw and heard my child’s heartbeat; and I cried.

It was an overwhelming and beautiful experience for me--until she looked over at me and said: “What are you crying about? Worms have heartbeats too.”

Her sister had offered to pay $500 for her to get an abortion. She insisted she was going to get the abortion, was planning to get one that weekend, and broke up with me right before.

I called the abortion clinic and asked what my rights were; they said “You don’t have any”.  I then asked them, “What do you do with the aborted babies? I want to bury my child.”

They told me that it wasn’t a child, it was a fetus, and to never call again or they would involve the police.  

My hands were tied. I, as a father had no legal right to protect my child from a death committed by a “doctor”. I called everyone imaginable to see what my rights were and I got the same answer: “nothing”.

The week before my child was aborted,  I went to try one more time to ask the mother of my child to not do this. But she was adamant about having an abortion, and told me to leave. So I then asked her if I could do one thing before I left, she told me that was fine. I then got on my knees and kissed the stomach of the mother of my child and said “I love you, and Daddy will see you in heaven.” I then took the ultrasound pictures and left.

The day my child was aborted was a very painful day for me. I was informed that my child had been aborted in the afternoon on December 2nd, 2006. It was the most painful experience I have ever been through. My relationship ended with the woman that I thought I was going to marry, and I lost my first child. I didn’t want to go on; I was in too much pain. I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. I had nightmares of my child being aborted. The day after my child was aborted, I went to see my pastor and he suggested that I have a memorial for my unborn child. I took his advice, and had one the following Sunday at his church. I had my parents and a few friends come. It was a short ceremony, but very painful. I never thought that my child would meet God before I did.

After that day things were still very painful. I still couldn’t sleep or eat, and thoughts of suicide filled my head every waking hour. I joined Bible studies, and post-abortion Bible studies as much as possible. Those were the only people that would understand.

There were times that I wouldn’t even receive support at church. A man is really not allowed to grieve the loss of his unborn baby. I was told things like: “Your child wasn’t even born, so get over it,”“It wasn’t a baby yet,” or even people saying “Your child deserved to die.” None of those things helped me heal and just put me in more of a state of depression.

That winter I was invited to a Right to Life march in Concord, NH. I thought it might be healing, so I went. While I was there, I met a man that ran crisis pregnancy centers in NYC. After speaking to him for awhile, he invited me down to NYC for the summer. I decided to go down and give it a shot.

On July 12th 2007, the day my child was supposed to be born, I went to NYC to serve God and help men and women in situations like I was in. While I was there, I counseled around 500 men and women, and through God, saved at least 100 lives from abortion. I continued to do this work in Manchester, NH by sidewalk counseling, counseling in centers, coordinated 40 Days for Life in New Hampshire, and started speaking to different Churches and events, sharing my testimony and how abortion affects men. I recently moved to Florida where I am doing the same work. Even though I never got to meet my child, and I miss my baby every single day, I know my child is now in the arms of Jesus and I will meet him and hold him in heaven.

Infographic written and designed by MCFL Communications intern, Sonja Morin.

Get the full PDF here.

OUR 2020 PRO-LIFE VOTING RESOURCE IS ACCESSIBLE HERE

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

[email protected]

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. 

At the Corner of Command and Conviction

by Sonja Morin, MCFL Communications Intern

It’s safe to say that the June Medical Services v. Russo decision was a startling piece of news to wake up to this Monday morning. In a 5-4 split, the Supreme Court declared that a Louisiana law - which required abortion-providing doctors to have hospital admittance privileges - was unconstitutional. Not only is it a scathing decision that defeated hopes for a case that could ultimately lead to the Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, but it endangers women by preventing these additional checks on abortion. This case and its consequences warrant much discussion and consideration within the pro-life movement, as it deliberates the best course of action in the coming months. 

One may wonder why a reflection on a SCOTUS decision belongs in a column that focuses on culture and abortion. While law and culture are distinct entities, they have an intersecting, mutually-effective relationship. The formation of laws guides the public conscience, dictating what is right and wrong. People look to their government - and thus their laws - for moral guidance. These beliefs are cemented in culture with ease. On the other hand, culture can help shift or progress laws. When people realize that a law is unjust, their use of cultural means - such as art, demonstrations, and persuasive writing - allow for a shift in public conscience against those laws. Politicians are meant to be inclined to the will and well-being of the people. When they see a strong movement against a law, they are likely to follow the pressure from the people and remove or alter the law. This intersection of command and conviction is incredibly crucial to understand and to use within a movement. 

The June case demonstrates the need for the pro-life movement to strengthen its positive relationship to law and culture.

Abortions, report USA Today in a recent article, have risen during COVID19. From the phone lines in New York City to the more quiet mid-west, abortion facilities' owners and workers have commented that they have received an uptick in calls, and more and more "desperate" women seeking either surgical or medical abortion.

Far from coming to the obvious conclusion that women seek abortion when they feel unsupported and without other options, the article assumes the same stance as the abortion industry, namely, that abortion is necessary and restrictions damaging.

If desperation and crisis cause a need for abortion, however, is that a sign that women need abortion, or that women deserve and need support -- like all of us -- especially during national crisis?

The stories of women in this article are heartbreaking.

We should not be requiring our fellow citizens, women or otherwise, to undergo surgical manipulation during a crisis to survive. We should not be promoting an act that requires women to choose survival over the life of their child, unless we agree that women are second-class citizens.

“I hear it in my patient’s voices and questions daily,” the article quotes an abortion worker. “They’re worried about how they will make their rent, feed their family, access a ventilator if the need arises.”

If the need arises, we meet it. We do not take an innocent human life, or implicitly tell a woman her family and her survival are based on sacrificing one of her children. Let's not call an act that takes a human life an "essential service." Essential services preserve life.

While we're in a national crisis, we should be offering abundant, life-affirming support to any one in need. 

Abortion isn't affirmation of a woman's needs and unique dignity. Abortion is a rejection of her essence and her needs.

Many of our members are posting bulletins online and out their local bus stops listing support services, pregnancy resource centers, and even their own telephone number. 

If there's going to be an uptick in need, we're going to be the uptick in offering -- love, hope, and support.

Join Us.

[ 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.

DONATE today to keep our life-saving work moving

JOIN the movement in Massachusetts

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh joined mayors from across Massachusetts, October 1st, at the Massachusetts State House, to declare support of legislation removing basic standards of medical care for women and newly born infants. SB 1209/HB 3320, the "ROE Act," abolishes parental consent, eliminates every meaningful constraint on any abortion up until birth (while simultaneously making such abortions even more unsafe by canceling the current requirement that abortions after the first trimester be performed in hospitals), and removes the current requirement that life-supporting medical equipment be on-hand during late-term abortions—in case a child survives the abortion attempt.

The event included Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern, Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer, Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday, and Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.

If any one of these officials is your mayor, call them today to express your deep disappointment in their judgment.

Boston - Marty Walsh - Phone: 617-635-4500

Cambridge - Marc McGovern - Phone: (617) 349-4321

Easthampton - Nicole LaChapelle - Phone: (413) 529-1400 ext. 470

Framingham - Yvonne Spicer - Phone: 508-532-5400

Newburyport - Donna Holaday - Phone: (978) 465-4413