TAKE ACTION NOW

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s a challenge to actively be pro-life in Massachusetts. Particularly in Northampton, where I live, advocates for the preborn are few. Voices of abortion rights supporters drown out those of us who speak for the voiceless.

For many years, I responded with a relative non-response: silence born of intimidation. But gradually, my conscience awoke to the reality of the behavior that’s become “normal,” and smothered my fear.

Then I sprang into action born of love.

Love for women who get lies, when they most need support.

Love for fathers who never know, who are just as scared, or who buy the same lies.

Love for doctors whose sight fails them.

Love for politicians who trade lives for votes.

And aching love for innocent, lost members of our society, whose potential we will never know.

Meaningful action relieves the pain that abortion injects into our world.

Whereas sitting on the sidelines became increasingly uncomfortable for me, taking to the field energizes as no endorphin can do, especially when you play with a great team.

I know you love as I do.

So show your love in action. Join our team, advocate for the voiceless, and jump off the sidelines into a lifesaving game.

Join the Massachusetts March for Life this Sunday, June 2nd, on the Common at 1pm.  

Or donate to bring another into this freeing, life-saving demonstration.

This year’s theme: Love in Action.

Recruit friends, bring family, post photos with the #LoveInAction hashtag, and show others how to play the game—and win.

It may not be popular to be pro-life here. It may be esier to stay home and keep quiet. But to defend the lives and rights of our vulnerable citizens, whether preborn or born, requires us to listen to our conscience and actively, boldly love.

See you on the Common,

Myrna Maloney Flynn

Vice President, Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Northampton

P.S. - Support MCFL’s continued efforts by making a gift for life.

http://www.masscitizensforlife.org/

Our team was interviewed by Boston Globe reporter, Deanna Pan. The article, focused on the women standing on the frontlines of the groundswell movement for authentic human rights in Massachusetts, spans the entire lifetime of MCFL.

Quoting longtime (now retired) board member, Fran Hogan, and reviewing the history of abortion in our state from the beginning, it closes on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood with our team.

Read it in its entirety here: For Women in Massachusetts...Dismantling Roe v. Wade.

Then join us and support our continued campaign for human rights in Massachusetts.

Women are leading this movement, because we know that an assault on one vulnerable class of human beings is an assault on every class of human beings.

And that's not progress.

“I think Roe v. Wade is going to be obsolete whether it’s overturned or not,” she said. “It’s against science; it’s against progress; it’s against human rights; it’s against women.”

By Bridget Fay, Board of Directors 

Two weeks ago, Georgia passed a landmark "Heartbeat Bill."  The law provides that an unborn child is a person once a heartbeat can be detected; in the words of the law, "[i]t shall be the policy of the State of Georgia to recognize unborn children as natural persons," and " [u]nborn child' means a member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb."  Such a person, therefore, is protected by the laws of Georgia. The law requires that a physician who is performing an abortion must first check for a fetal heartbeat; if such a heartbeat exists, the abortion cannot be performed absent a medical emergency, threat to the health of the mother, or rape.

Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey assert that a state does not have an interest in protecting unborn children before viability.  Georgia's law challenges Roe by providing an alternate point at which the state can protect preborn babies (i.e. the detection of a human heartbeat), which has the merits of being a clear indicator of human life, and being far more objective than the amorphous "viability" standard.  Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, establishes a "health exception" for abortion, and absurdly broad contours for such an exception.  According to Doe, risks to both mental and physical health, even undiagnosable risks to mental health, are a justification for abortion. The result is that the "exception" overrides any limits a state may put on abortion.  The Heartbeat Bill squarely attacks that  intellectual dishonesty: it limits such an exception to the "substantial and irreversible physical impairment" of a pregnant woman's body.  That exception is clear, objective, and designed to balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of their preborn children - exactly what Doe purports to do but obviously does not.

The Georgia law is revolutionary in both its recognition of unborn children as human beings and its confrontation of the culture of abortion.  It is not just a law that bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected; it is a law that expands child support to pregnant mothers.  It revises the child homicide laws so that parents may recover for the death of a reborn child, not just a child who has already been born.  It even changes the way Georgia handles taxes: expectant parents may list their preborn baby as a dependent minor.  The law provides protections for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who treat pregnant women for unrelated medical problems, if such treatment inadvertently causes a miscarriage.   

When pro-lifers talk about creating a "culture of life," we mean an overhaul of the thousands of ways that our culture and laws assume that preborn children aren't people, expectant mothers aren't quite yet mothers, and women will solve their problems via abortion.  Georgia's comprehensive attack on the evils of abortion is something that other states can emulate, and its comprehensive reformation of its laws highlight how pervasive abortion has become.

By Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Crux this week has an interview with M.T. Davila, an assistant professor of Christian ethics at Andover Newton Theological Seminary in Newton. The interviewer is Fordham Professor Charles Camosy author of Beyond the Abortion Wars. 

I have never reviewed the Camosy book because he claims to want to "draw people into conversation" with arguments that are offensive to the pro-life movement while giving great respect to those who want to make sure abortion remains legal. 

By Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Here is a beautiful picture! A missionary nun spoke at my church yesterday.  She told a story of the earthquake in Haiti. The orphanage building was shaking. No one paid any attention. The buildings were so flimsy they would shake when a truck drove by.

One of the sisters had experienced an earthquake in another country and recognized the signs. She organized a "bucket brigade". They lifted the babies from their cribs, passed them along from person to person, and laid them on the ground.

Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston, died in Rome on Wednesday. 

Even the Boston Globe has acknowledged, after his resignation, Law devoted considerable energy to the pro-life movement, as part of his work against the culture of death. In 1984, during his first appearance at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the Globe said “he called abortion a ‘national disgrace’ and the ‘primordial evil of our time, the cloud that shrouds the conscience of our world.’ A year later, he referred to abortion as “the critical issue of the moment” and criticized US Representative Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984, for her support of abortion rights.”

He appeared annually at the March for Life in Washington, DC, and the Respect Life March in Boston, as well as heading a bishops' committee on abortion issues.

One of the most effective actions you can take as a pro-life advocate is calling state or federal elected officials to ask them to vote or sign one way or another. We recently heard from one Massachusetts state representative who told us that just four or five constituents calling their office can sway their vote on an issue.

We often ask Massachusetts pro-lifers to take action for or against legislation by contacting your state representative or senator on Beacon Hill or Congressman or Senator in Washington. Sure, you could send an email or a postal letter, but nothing has the same impact as a personal phone call. As a shorthand, on Beacon Hill a snail mail letter is worth about 100 emails and a phone call is worth about 100 letters. (A personal visit to their office to lobby them? That’s about 100 phone calls.)

That’s why a tool like Capitol Call is so interesting.

Jessica Evans lives in Georgia with her family, including her 15-year-old brother David, who has Down syndrome. Jessica is a college student and likes to come home and surprise her brother, so she’s videoed many of his enthusiastic greetings and turned them into an adorable and heartwarming compilation. We should all aspire to experience such excitement every time we see a loved one!

Jessica posted her video on Twitter and create a viral sensation, including many others who posted videos of the special love they share with family members who have Down syndrome.

for anyone who is having a bad day: here is a video of my little brother's reaction every time i come home and surprise him😍😭 pic.twitter.com/6HDxLC3CpM

— jess (@thejessevans) August 15, 2017

We have such limited understandings of what “perfection” is and what it means to be a “burden.” While special needs children and adults indeed need special help with many parts of life—although who doesn’t really?—they also bring a capacity for love and joy as well that can’t be overlooked.

By Nancy Valko

Yesterday (as this is written), we learned that Baby Charlie Gard is expected to die soon as his heartbroken parents have decided to remove his life support because a US doctor had told them it was now too late to give Charlie nucleoside therapy. According to a BBC article, “US neurologist Dr Michio Hirano had said he was no longer willing to offer the baby experimental therapy after he saw the results of a new MRI scan last week.” Baby Charlie’s parents are now asking the court to allow them to take Charlie home to die.

We have learned much from Baby Charlie’s tragedy, not only about the perils of government deciding who should live and who should die, but also about the love and commitment of his dedicated parents and the importance of the worldwide support they received.

Now we know there is more hope for babies born with conditions like Baby Charlie’s because of the publicity and probably more parents will try to find alternatives when they are given a poor or fatal prognosis.

Here are two cases where the parents did just that and saved their children.