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Pages tagged "prolife"


Seeking Peace, Protecting Life: Weekly Thoughts from MCFL's President

Posted on In The News by C.J. Williams · August 10, 2019 10:10 AM · 1 reaction

Our president reflects on the attitude and actions we to need to create a culture based in relationship, valuing the humanity of the other, no matter the cost. Foundational to ending violence is a proactive personal commitment to generosity and peace.

 

by Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President

 

How is it they live in such harmony, the billions of stars, when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds? ― Thomas Aquinas

 

I spent the summer before my senior year of high school as an exchange student in Japan. When I arrived, my host family gave me a choice between two weekend destinations that we could visit at the end of my stay: the beach or Hiroshima. 

Now, if you’ve spent each of your 17 years in Minnesota, with its countless, albeit beautiful, lakes, hanging out on the exotic sands of Okinawa is a no brainer. After all, I reasoned, I was on vacation; I preferred the thought of lounging comfortably. Plus, the prospect of being an American in Hiroshima wasuncomfortable. 

Yet as my return trip to the U.S. approached, I changed my mind. I’d find comfort back home soon enough, I thought. So the week before I left, we embarked on a road trip to Hiroshima: my non English-speaking host parents, their teenage daughter, and me.

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Expect to Shine a Winning Light for Life

Posted on In The News by C.J. Williams · July 03, 2019 5:36 PM · 1 reaction

By Myrna Maloney Flynn, MCFL President 

The year after Roe v. Wade, a blue-collar couple in their 40s was struggling to raise six kids, the youngest 11, when they learned the woman was pregnant. After Mass one day, a friend chided them, saying, “You know, there’s something you can do now.”

I’m Myrna Maloney Flynn. I’m here today because my parents knew the truth and gave me my life. I want to dedicate it to shining light on that truth to save others’ lives.

Every step I’ve taken in the last three decades has prepared me to successfully assume the MCFL presidency now. I studied communications and political science. I hold a master’s degree in teaching. I’ll soon have an MBA.

I’ve lived in Japan and India, so I’ve observed the cultural value of human life from vastly different perspectives. I taught high school in the Bronx, where I witnessed teen motherhood and minors who had abortions. I developed a thick skin while cold calling as a sales rep and an even sturdier spine as a TV reporter. I’ve helped lift startup companies off the ground, led successful nonprofit fundraisers, and sailed past development goals at community events. For the past five years, I’ve held leadership positions in higher education -- an industry, widely known to support abortion rights, that forced me to speak for those who cannot.

I am blessed to have a husband of 16 years, who has become one of my closest pro-life advisors. We thank God each day for our four children.

I self-nominated for a seat on MCFL’s board and was elected last year. Since then, I’ve been invited to participate in nearly all aspects of MCFL’s internal operations and have leveraged my role as director before external audiences as well. In March, I was unanimously elected vice president, an honor and opportunity that I determinedly made the most of.

  • I’ve re-established ties with key pro-life advocates in western Mass., resulting in a new list of 150 contacts and the first pro-life club at Amherst College
  • I’ve taken on the role of spokesperson, representing MCFL in the media, before Anti-fascists at our March for Life, testifying at last week’s S.1209 hearing, delivering remarks at the State House rally and at Northampton’s City Council Meeting; and creatively appealing to our members at events and online
  • I’ve forged a relationship with MassGOP and the leadership at MFI, Renew MA, SBA List and the Charlotte Lozier Institute  
  • I hosted MCFL’s first-ever Northampton rally, in a bitterly cold rain, among that city’s numerous and vocal pro-choice residents
  • Crazy, yes. But it served the purpose of getting Senator Comerford’s attention as well as a meeting with her
  • You can read about that in the new magazine issue, which I helped produce
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A Dream for Human Dignity: Mass. March for Life

Posted on In The News by David Franks · June 05, 2019 8:39 AM · 1 reaction

“We Have a Dream”
2019 Mass. March for Life rally speech

We have had our dreams.

All our lives. And when we’ve dreamed best, we’ve dreamed more love and more life: for ourselves and for those we love.

And now we join here this day to dream together more life and love for every human.

Today is my youngest child’s birthday. She’s six now. My oldest will turn eighteen in a month. There are four children in between.

Like the song says: “The years just flow by, like a broken down dam.” First sacraments, last recitals, graduations, Little League, the little heartaches and the unencompassable ones. Inexorable. Beautiful and heartbreaking. You know what I mean.

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on. And our little life is rounded with a sleep.”

What dreams have I had for them! What dreams have died. What dreams survive. The only dreams worthy of a child are intimations from a source far worthier than me, a source of perfect self-surrendering love. Such dreams are not private fantasies. They are facets of the one great dream of this world: that every substance and rhythm of creation, every action and interaction, converge and rise in a new form of common life, more perfect than the one we now endure.

Rise into a city magnificent, beneficent, whose only currency is love. We might call it the city of peace: a New Jerusalem.

To dream such a city: is that for the night, or for the day? If dreaming means surrender to an inspiration that is not yours or mine, something too large to have arisen from our small capacity: then it is to create a day that escapes all nights.

We pro-lifers have gathered here today to dream this great dream together. It is, in part, the dream we have for America. It is, in part, what America wants to dream through us.

One dream has always animated this country: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Every single human is created equal.

It has always been a dream. It has never been fully realized in the light of day. We dreamt the dream—yet consigned the slave to nightmare. We dreamt the dream—yet leave women too much in the grip of private tyrannies.

That essential figure of our Founding, Abigail Adams, had written to husband John Adams, “Remember the ladies!” And we still have so much to do to make that dream real.

Our opponents ask: but do we honor the liberty of women? And I say, if asked of all of us in American society, that is a just question. And every pro-lifer must answer it well by our lives. There are many who, in all good conscience, really want America to remember the ladies, and think that to do so requires that we remove every single limitation on abortion.

Some in less good faith have concocted this ROE Act pending under that gold dome, which is far more radical in aim and effect than even Roe v. Wade. The 1973 decision was extreme enough, but it explicitly denied an absolute right to abortion: in the interests of the abortion-minded mother’s health, and in the interests of what the men in black unscientifically and unphilosophically termed “potential human life,” the state may at various points regulate abortion—according to Roe v. Wade.

The ROE Act is not some prophylactic attempt to enshrine Roe v. Wade before it is, please God, overturned by the Supreme Court. The ROE Act presents and would enshrine a right to unrestricted abortion. That is a new thing. And it is a very dark thing.

What would this legislation do?

1) No abortion could be bad enough for this abortion-industry drafted law to merit the intervention of the state.

It eliminates 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. Literally no abortion could be performed in Massachusetts that might become a matter for state law enforcement.

Is this the dream we dream for our Commonwealth?

2) The ROE Act would eliminate parental consent for all minors. Is that the dream we should dream for our children? That if they are victims of predatory men, that no parent, and even no judge, should stand between that child and the will of the predator to “fix his problem”? Is that our dream for children? Are we not sick of abuse?

3) The ROE Act eliminates any provision for the life of a viable child who survives an abortion attempt. You would think that the very least modern times would reject is the barbarism of exposure. But with abortion, we indeed grapple with the very limits of civilization. Are we to dream of exposure for children?

4) The ROE Act would eliminate the hospitalization requirement for abortions after the first trimester. Is that the dream we should dream for women? Whose dream is that but that of the abortion industry, which profits from killing?

5) The ROE Act would expand tax-payer funding of abortion and would do so, perversely, under Healthy Start, a program designed to lower infant mortality. Is that what we dream from good government?

6) In this proposed law, any reference to women is eliminated, as is any reference to another human being in this whole tortured question of abortion. Is the dream of this Commonwealth to forget the actual flesh and blood mothers and children whose destinies are being weighed in the balance? Justice may be blind, but justice must not be stupid.

If many fellow citizens are convinced of the hard necessity of abortion in certain cases, that is one thing. It is one thing to say that the liberty interest of a mother overrides the life interest of her unborn child in difficult-enough circumstances. It’s quite another thing, a delusional thing, to pretend that this hard choice isn’t hard at all by pretending as if modern embryology and developmental biology do not exist.

Our dream is a dream for the transformation of reality, and so it must be rooted in reality. Ignoring how abortion is a tool for rapacious men is not being rooted in reality.

The principle of the ROE Act is simple: no abortion a bad abortion.

But how many pro-choicers, even, believe that? What kind of male fantasy world would a person have to live in to overlook the fact that this serves the convenience of the man who, though not wanting to be a father, nevertheless wants to keep using women and girls?

Abortion makes the inequality of women worse. It allows men to escape their responsibility to both women and children, and it allows our narcissistic society to escape our responsibility to care.

No abortion a bad abortion? How about this: some seeming solutions are not solutions at all.

Do we need to secure more equality for women in society? You better believe it. Can equality, can the equality of some, be secured at the expense of the equality of others? The ones selling that are always the unequal ones who sit above us all and who confuse their needs with reality. And I’ll say it to the shame of our sex: most of these narcissists are men.

We pro-lifers agree that the ladies must be remembered. What we deny, is that we can rightly remember any one human by killing another human.

We would remember all the victims, not just some—and thereby blow up the whole sorry system of entitlement that enslaves us all. Do you want revolution? THAT is revolution.

Let us dream with Walt Whitman:

I DREAM’D in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth;
I dream’d that was the new City of Friends;
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love—it led the rest;
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,
And in all their looks and words.

What has Walt described but what we dream for America: to show us something of the New Jerusalem.

If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither.

The city of our dreams, that New Jerusalem, cannot come upon those who forget the dead, who forget the victims.

We must not forget how racial minorities suffer. We must not forget how women suffer. We must not forget how the smallest humans suffer.

Let me not forget thee, city of my dreams, city of life for all and of death for none.

Let me not forget thee, city of true love and of friendship we never betray, never fail.

Let us dream the impossible possibility of America once again.

What did our great captain say:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

When Lincoln says that every political sentiment he’s had derives from the Declaration of Independence, he explains that he means the principles of equal dignity and liberty.

We all agree on the words. What do they mean?

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Oppose the "ROE" Act (S.1209/H.3320) (re-packaged as section 40 in 2020 state budget bill)

Posted by C.J. Williams · March 11, 2019 10:13 AM

The ROE Act (S.1209/H.3320) was so extreme its pro-abortion lobbyists could not even get it past the committee. Even  \ self-identified pro-"choice" citizens claim that the bill is too radical. The bill was written to remove commonsense laws designed to protect mothers. In fact, states that have removed such regulations have seen deaths like those of Keisha and Claire. 

The ROE Act, in original draft:

• Removes protections for newborn babies who are born alive having survived a failed abortion (opening the door to infanticide);

• Eliminates the requirement that a parent (or at least a judge) consent before a minor girl undergoes an abortion; putting them at risk of being abused by an adult;

• Allows abortions of viable unborn babies to be performed outside of a hospital, endangering women;

• Increases taxpayer funding of abortion, by diverting money from Healthy Start, a program intended to reduce infant mortality among the poor;

• And eliminates 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.

Massachusetts women deserve better than the "ROE" Act. You can read a full analysis of this bill here. 

(The budget version of this bill only slightly changed certain language, while maintaining the most problematic provisions listed above.)

Protect our vulnerable women. Say no to ROE and to section 40 in our state budget.

 

Sign our petition below and contact your legislator to oppose the "R.O.E." Act provisions in the 2020 state budget. Call Governor Baker at 617 725 4005 to request he veto the budget until abortion promotion has been removed.

Your full address must be included in order to add your signature on this petition.

2,715 signatures
Add signature

Say NO to Infanticide

Posted on In The News by C.J. Williams · February 25, 2019 10:10 AM

National news has been focused on Virginia's promotion of infanticide. Or on New York, where Governor Cuomo just signed extremist legislation to increase abortions in his state.

Here in Massachusetts, however, we have our own infanticide law lined up. S.1209 legalizes infanticide, removes parental notification, abortion waiting periods, and the requirement that late-term abortions are done in a hospital. 

We have to ask: Hey, pro-woman pro-choicers - what happened to safe, legal, RARE?

No matter what side of the political or ideological spectrum you fall on, S.1209 is extreme and dangerous. 

What can you do? First, sign the petition! Let Governor Baker know, Massachusetts does not endorse infanticide & child abuse. Second, get educated. Review the quick facts below.

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Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Posted on In The News by MA Citizens for Life · October 11, 2018 8:45 AM

Presidential Message on Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Issued on: October 1, 2018 and reprinted from WhiteHouse.gov

During Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Melania and I join in celebrating the lives of the more than 250,000 Americans with Down syndrome and those around the world with this condition.  Together, we recommit to deepening our understanding of Down syndrome and learning more about how we can ensure the beautiful people with Down syndrome are able to fully participate in society.  We will always support the dreams of those with Down syndrome, and respect and honor the sanctity of their lives, at every stage.

Today, as a result of advances in research and treatment, people with Trisomy 21, or “Down syndrome,” are leading healthier and longer lives.  Through innovative speech, occupational, and physical therapies, we are finding new ways to build upon the physical and intellectual abilities of children and babies with Down syndrome.  We are learning more about this condition and the increased need for widespread education and acceptance.  These efforts help to ensure many of our youngest citizens with this condition are able to live fulfilling, independent, and productive lives.

All people are endowed by their Creator with dignity and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Despite some persistent myths and stigmas, even within the medical community, our Nation strongly embraces the undeniable truth that a Down syndrome diagnosis is an opportunity to embrace God’s gifts.  I stand for life – in all of its beautiful manifestations – and I, and my Administration, will continue to condemn the prejudice and discrimination that Americans with Down syndrome too often endure.

During this month, we vow to continue creating opportunities for and supporting the extraordinary men, women, and children with Down syndrome.  Every day, they inspire us to live with great love, joy, and appreciation for our world and those who make it a truly unique and special place to live.  Life is precious, and it is our moral duty to protect and defend it.


Two sides of the debate over abortion and federal funds

Posted on In The News · August 06, 2018 1:15 PM


Reprinted with permission - 

JULY 30, 2018

Governor Charlie Baker is clearly misguided in opposing President Trump’s proposed changes in Title X funding to enforce the federal ban on tax dollars for abortion (“Baker hits US abortion proposal,” Metro, July 24). The changes would not endanger women’s health care, as Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito implied in their letter of comment to the US Department of Health and Human Services and the White House budget director. Rather, the changes would reduce taxpayer subsidies to Planned Parenthood, a major special interest group that performs more than 300,000 abortions nationwide each year.

It’s no wonder the Baker-Polito challenge to Trump’s proposal was cheered by the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and by politicians favoring abortion rights.

Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize a procedure that results in ending a human life.

Gail Besse Ryberg

Hingham


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