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!

Instead of a large bill and an unnecessary surgery, Massachusetts residents were handing out care packages filled with handwritten notes, a list of free healthcare resources in the area, and brownies, to moms in unexpected pregnancies approaching the Boston area Planned Parenthood on Saturday.

"Look, I just came to get this taken care of," said a young woman through her car window, as C.J. (community engagement director for MCFL) waved at her and asked if she could help.

"But what if you were taken care of?" C.J. asked her. The woman just shook her head. But she took the little violet box, and the note with healthcare  options in the area. Later, she and her partner were seen driving away.

A multitude of people, young and old, had gathered that morning to sing Christmas carols at the well-known Boston abortion center. Young and old, secular and religious, they sang or prayed or stood quietly. A large group of Spanish-speaking citizens had bussed in, and had joined with some of the local Franciscans to pray; while a high school student from Arlington High had joined with her mother for the first time.

It was a busy morning. Christmas is often a challenging time for women who are pregnant; and Planned Parenthood doesn't make it any easier. The abortion provider advertises not help but abortion to relieve women of their challenges -- and relieves them of their living, breathing baby at the instead. 

"What I don't get," said Liana, the high-school junior, "Is, I mean, why don't we make having your baby at a hospital free? Like, why isn't there a clinic here to give birth for like $500? We tax-fund abortion, but no one is tax-funding helping moms have their baby. I always hear women say, I can't afford $5000 to give birth and then baby clothes and all that stuff. But so what? How's abortion a choice if it's the only one you give someone?"

Many of the carolers have been working overtime on just that issue, calling the governor and our lawmakers daily, even hourly, demanding they reject the "R.O.E" Act (which would increase pressure to abort a child, and offer no more support to women parenting or giving birth, along with lowering the age of abortion-consent to 16).

In the meantime, though, they stood offering support and song to the many women impacted by the normal vicissitudes of life, on top of COVID-related job losses or stress. 

"Brighton has a pregnancy resource and health center right up the street from here," said one woman, "I always tell moms, it's free. Right up the street. I'll even drive you there."

She has done just that.

But this frigid, 19 degree morning, she -- along with dozens of others -- continued to sing. From 9am to noon, they offering care boxes, hope, support, and song to each woman approaching the abortion center. Because, as a longtime sidewalk counselor quipped, "Empowerment is telling a woman to kill her child and pick up the bill. Empowerment is telling her you have the strategies, the resources, and a helping hand for her to do anything with her child."

Do you hear what I hear... they closed. 

And I think they meant life, life and protection and support, for everyone, born and preborn, mom and child.

For pregnancy resource centers and free healthcare in your area, check out: Resource Spreadsheet for Women's Health Here.

VIEW THE FULL RECORDING NOW 

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

By C.J. Williams, MCFL Director of Community Engagement

What do you do if you find yourself in a pro-life/pro-choice conversation where the other person seems closed off to all of your arguments? You may know someone, or be the someone, who always knows a clear and convincing argument for the fact that human rights begin at conception. But now you're in that dialogue outside the clinic, or at your work place, pro-life to pro-choice -- and no matter what you say, you feel like you're building a bigger wall.

At this point, Stephanie Gray (who will headline our Dr. Mildred Jefferson Symposium at Harvard (virtually!) on October 22nd, debating Professor Peter Singer) says -- look to the heart.

If you and your friend are drawing farther apart, it's likely that this is a heart, not a head, issue.

One out of 3 of my peers lost their life to abortion. Can you picture how many people you meet each day, and can you now visualize the numbers personally touched by abortion?

The tips in the following video remind us that we are not on two sides of an insurmountable mountain when we discuss abortion with our peers or fellow citizens. But we do meet, sometimes, in front of a deep wound that runs like a chasm between us.

That wound is abortion. 

We cannot argue to a heart; we have to love it. Thus, most of our intentional encounters that seem to run up against a wall need to be brought out of the head and onto the level of relationship.

A few reminders:

--Meet your friend, or the stranger on the street corner, as another human being -- what is their story?

--Whom do they care about, and why does abortion matter to them?

--Is there something you can do to answer their questions?

--Do we really want to base our concept of human rights on an act of violence?

I highly recommend listening to Stephanie's interview and discussion below on How to Effectively Argue About Abortion. She gets to the heart of the matter; and that's something I'm sure she will also accomplish in our sponsored debate, on October 22nd at 7pm on the question of: Is Abortion Moral?

Please register now -- space on the virtual debate platform is limited!

Count me in! Register me now.

Watch the full video by clicking the image above.

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.

It was not a regular day in front of the Boston abortion facility run by Planned Parenthood. For one, it was day 120+ since the COVID pandemic required mass masking, and shut down the busy hustle and bustle on Commonwealth Avenue Hub residents are so accustomed to. But additional to that, something new was going on in front of the abortuary.

Under the glare of sun reflected off the multi-storey layer of glass windows, beside the triangular pop-up signage stating, We care! Abortion care available here! a crowd of young women had gathered.

They weren't ducking into the facility. They weren't in baggy sweats, or darting glances over their shoulders as they dashed for the door.

They held sidewalk chalk buckets, and their eyes above their masks crinkled with smiles.

What does it look like to oppose, change, and replace the abortion business? What does it mean to put women's health over profit? How do you let girls know that  their worth isn't based on a choice that kills their child?

How do you save the women who are trafficked, and the expose the criminals who cover their crime by forcibly killing the child who is evidence of the abuse?

Simple.

Chalk it out.

Abuse can't survive exposure. We need love and respect, not power and abortion. But we also don't need words so much as we need actions -- and that's what these young people proved on Saturday.

You are loved.

A woman who is loved: What can she not do?

A woman who is supported and respected: She does not take the life of her unborn child. 

"This morning we stood as advocates for mother and baby, offering hope and help outside Planned Parenthood," said Abigail Young, MCFL Board member and staff at Students for Life. "We even changed the mind of one passerby who cheered us on thinking we were pro-choice, came back to clarify our position, and returned a third time wanting to learn more! She was surprised to hear that we were not there in judgement and could actually offer tangible resources to women. She continued her run after thanking us for being there and willing to talk with her."

SUPPORT MCFL'S LIFE-SAVING OUTREACH HERE

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. 

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.