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

I returned from the Let There Be Life Conference in California with more information than my heart or head could properly organize.

Much like the citizens of Massachusetts, Californians face an abortion-business extremism that is well beyond pro-choice. Laws proposed in the California legislature mirror the "ROE Act" (and newly introduced Bill H.3841, which would force our public universities to include abortion centers offering chemical terminations on their campuses). These bills abandon even the appearance of seeking women’s safety, and push abortion for any reason, at any stage, in any circumstance. These proposals brazenly remove medical standards of care for the abortion-minded mother, putting abortion promotion before her safety.*

California’s pro-abortion university bill inspired the introduction of HB 3841 here. Even my Planned Parenthood-supporting friends have wondered aloud to me why chemical abortions should be forced onto university health centers, when abortion access is so open in both Massachusetts and California--and the proposed laws make abortion more available but less safe.

Just in summary, these pieces of legislation:

--prioritize access over safety*;

--expand and promote abortion businesses but disempower doctors*;

--target viable preborn children; and

--target underage girls and young adults on college campuses*.

If the governor signs the legislation, California will force its public universities to provide chemical abortions on-site to their students. We in Massachusetts don’t yet have these laws on our books. The Committee on the Judiciary has recently informed me they are still taking testimony on the ROE Act (as is the Committee on Public Health for HB 3841, the chemical-abortion bill). The ROE Act, if passed, would remove all adult supervision and protection for a 12- or 13-year old girl seeking an abortion, as well as removing any requirement that grisly, multi-day late-term abortion procedures be performed in a qualified hospital. HB 3841 would require our publicly funded universities to institutionalize abortion centers on their campuses.

Court cases and emergency records in states with laws that remove these basic medical standards and abortion regulations show that countless women per year are maimed or killed by abortionists.*

During the conference, attendees also held a protest at the University of San Francisco. Well-known for its cutting-edge technology programs and medical track, UCSF is less well-known as the premiere late-term abortion training school in the nation. Doctors training there learn to perform abortions by aborting: they dismember human beings in-utero, and the organs of those individuals are then sold for a profit to medical researchers. Neither mother nor child gives consent in this scenario.

I joined other conference-goers outside the  university chancellor’s window to expose the heinous human rights abuse.

“How can you have a medical school training late-term abortionists with the specific goal of harvesting human body parts? How many kinds of wrong can you go?” A girl named Ana asked me, as we held signs next to a young man in a mouse costume. (His sign: Don’t experiment on me and don’t experiment on BABIES.)

Loud and clear, even to passers-by, this event showed that we are no longer in a landscape divided at pro-life / pro-choice. Even the pro-choice students who wandered over to ask what we were protesting expressed horror at the flagrant disregard for human dignity.

What was the most valuable takeaway in all of this for Massachusetts?

It gave me a vivid view of what our state will look like for women if the “R.O.E.” Act is passed. 

S.1209 (“R.O.E.”) will no not require basic medical standards of safety for the women having the 3 to 4 day late-term abortion procedure. These grisly labor-and-delivery-of-a-dead-child surgeries will be performed outside of hospitals under “R.O.E.” 

I encountered a firsthand witness to the fallout of these policies in San Francisco. He is an attorney, whose client is the mother of Keisha, a woman who waited over 17 hours for proper medical care after her late-term abortion left baby parts in her womb. She ultimately died of sepsis -- and the incredible negligence of so-called women’s healthcare providers in outpatient abortion facilities.

This attorney is currently prosecuting the abortion doctors and outpatient abortion facilities in New Mexico for over 17 women’s deaths and countless injuries because of the gross negligence of their laws -- which right now do exactly what “R.O.E.” would do here -- has countless other incidents documented as well.

This event, and these facts are critical to your communication with your legislator, and the Joint Committee on the Judiciary (find their contact information here and submit your testimony to Chair Claire Cronin).

My pro-choice friends and I agree: The "ROE" Act is no ROE v. Wade. Where the Supreme Court decision recognizes a state interest in the life of a viable child, and (after the first trimester) recognizes a state interest in seeing that abortions are given the same attention as other surgeries (at least), the ROE Act would remove the current hedges separating “legal” abortion from an actual back-alley abortion.

So why are legislators and pro-abortion lobbies pushing this in Massachusetts?

An attorney in New Mexico dealing with the human fallout from late-term abortion cases there pulled these key points for us as we scrolled through page upon page of emergency assistance calls and death statements from non-hospital abortion facilities:

-- Outpatient clinics reduce overhead by reducing life-saving medical equipment.

-- Outpatient clinics do not need to have a doctor perform the procedure (or one with hospital privileges).

-- Outpatient clinics do not hold patients for monitoring as hospitals do.

-- Outpatient clinics send women home carrying a dead or dying full-term baby, effectively leaving her at risk for sepsis, hemorrhage, etc., with no medical attention near to hand. 

No matter what end of the ideological spectrum we stand on, we can unite to oppose privileging ease of access over safety, risky abortion over healthcare, and profit over people’s lives, dignity, and well-being. Share these facts with the Joint Committees, and your family and friends -- pro-life or pro-choice.

San Francisco has a political climate similar to Massachusetts in some ways. New Mexico has an abortion extremism that could be Massachusetts in a few years. 

They both have dead children being sold for their body parts, and women dying too often from reduction in the medical standards of care.

Let’s learn from both: Massachusetts citizens, get out there and lobby the Joint Committee on the Judiciary against the ROE Act. This isn’t about abortion access or removal of access, as ROE Act proponents have tried to say. It is about removal of care, safety, and a pushing for profit from organizations that make money on procedures that hurt women, and kill preborn people.

*SB 24 (CA) would require campus health services at all 34 public campuses throughout the state — 11 under the University of California system and 23 under the California State system -- to make available "abortion by medication techniques," which involves a regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol.

*The ROE Act would remove the requirement that a doctor have life-supporting medical equipment on-hand for both humans involved in an abortion. This bill even eliminates language recognizing that a woman and child are the relevant patients in an abortion.

*New Mexico is a case in point. You can read testimony from expert late-term abortionists from the ongoing court case in Albuquerque, wherein over 25 women are recorded dead from outpatient late-term abortions.

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 Anne Fox

Today marks 46 years since the infamous Supreme Court abortion decisions (Roe v. Wade) - more than 60,000,000 babies have died, and more than 60,000,000 families have been shattered.

Planned Parenthood celebrated by filing "The Roe Act" in Massachusetts. This act would remove any age limits on abortion and expand the availability of post-viability abortions in Massachusetts.

Under current Massachusetts law, minors need a parent’s permission to get an abortion or she can petition a judge, a process known as judicial bypass.

Under the new law, a 12 year old could take herself into an abortion facility where they would happily perform the abortion.

We offer these events as a resource for witnessing to the lives lost to our unrestricted abortion laws under Roe v. Wade, and for the lives to be saved by opposing and changing that law. We are a secular organization, however, and invite you to submit your witness events if you make this witness in another way.

Holy Hour for Life, throughout Massachusetts,for
Forgiveness and Healing
An Hour of Prayer with Exposition of the
Holy Eucharist in Support of the Dignity of
Human Life from Conception to Natural Death
Marking the 46th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
( January 22, 1973 – January 22, 2019)

Abington St. Bridget at Holy Ghost Adoration Chapel, Whitman Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Amesbury Holy Family Rev. Scott Euvrard Jan. 22 @ 9:30 am
Jan. 22 @ 6:30 pm

Andover St. Augustine Dcn. Lou Piazza TBA

Arlington St. Agnes Respect Life Mass Jan 27 @ 9 am

Ashland St. Cecilia Rev. Richard P. Cornell Jan 20 @ 2 pm

Auburndale St. Antoine Daveluy at Corpus Christi Dcn. Cheonil Kim Jan. 3 @ 7:30 pm

Bellingham St. Blaise Rev. Albert Faretra Jan. 20 @ 1 pm

Bellingham St. Brendan Dcn. David Ghioni Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Beverly CollaborativeSt. Margaret Dcn. Michael Joens Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Billerica St. Mary at St. Andrew Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Billerica St. Andrew Dcn. Phil DiBello Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Billerica St. Theresa of Lisieux at St. Andrew Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Boston Cathedral of the Holy Cross Rev. Kevin O’Leary Jan. 22 following
(Our Lady’s Chapel) the 9:00 Mass

Boston Our Lady of Good Voyage Rev. Paolo Cumin Feb. 1 @ 3 pm

Boston St Clement Shrine 24 Hour Eucharistic Adoration

Boston St. James the Greater Dcn. Francis Sung Jan. 19 @ 9:30 am

Boston St. Joseph Rev. Joseph White Jan. 22 @ 12:30 pm

Boston St. Leonard of Port Maurice Rev. Antonio Nardoianni Jan. 18 following
the 12:05 Mass

Bradford Sacred Hearts Dcn. Eric Peabody Jan. 19 @ 5 pm

Braintree Pastoral Center (Bethany Chapel) Dcns. Chris Connelly Jan. 22 following
and Patrick Guerrini the 12:05 Mass

Bridgewater St. Thomas Aquinas Dcns. Donoghue, Fitzgerald, Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Hopgood & Ryan
Bridgewater (East) St. John at St. Thomas Aquinas Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Bridgewater (West) St. Ann at St. Thomas Aquinas Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Brighton St. Columbkille Rev. Christopher Bae Jan. 22 @ 7:30 pm

Brookline St. Mary of the Assumption Dcn. Brian Kean Jan. 22 @ 6:30 pm

Burlington St. Malachy Dcn. Richard Billotta Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Burlington St. Margaret at St. Malachy Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Cambridge St. John the Evangelist Dcn. Alfred Geneus Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Cambridge St. Peter at John the Evangelist Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Canton St. Gerard Majella Dcn. Dan Nelson Jan. 24 @ 7 pm

Canton St. John the Evangelist at St. Gerard Majella Jan. 24 @ 7 pm

Charlestown St. Francis de Sales Jan. 22 @ 7:30 am

Chelmsford St. John the Evangelist Dcn. Fran Burke Jan. 17 @ 7 pm

Chelmsford St. Mary at St. John the Evangelist Jan. 17 @ 7 pm

Chelsea St. Stanislaus Rev. Andrew Grelak Jan. 19 @ 8:30 am

Chelsea/Everett Our Lady of Grace at St. Mary of the Assumption, Revere Jan. 19 @ 9 am
beginning with Mass

Cohasset St. Anthony Dcns. Mattie Henry, Paul Rooney Jan. 20 @ 2 pm
& Jim Theriault

Concord Holy Family Dcn. Gregory Burch Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Danvers St. Mary of the Annunciation Dcn. Brian F. Shea Jan. 20 @ 3:30 pm

Dedham St. Mary of the Assumption Dcn. Kelley McCormick Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Dorchester St. Gregory Rev. John Ahern Jan. 20 @ 11 am

Dracut St. Marguerite D’Youville Dcns. Everett Penney and Jan. 17 @ 7 pm
David Brooks

Dunstable Our Lady of Grace Dcn. Michael Markham Jan. 19 @ 10 am
at St. Joseph, Pepperell

East Boston Most Holy Redeemer Dcns. McHugh, Miller, Jan. 13 @ 11 am
LaTorre, Rivero

Framingham St. Bridget Rev. Mark DeAngelis Jan. 18 following
the 9 am Mass

Framingham St. Stephen Dcn. Alfredo Nieves Jan 18 @ 8 am-8 pm

Framingham St. Tarcisius Dcn. Cleyton Moreira Jan. 21 @ 7:30 pm

Franklin St. Mary (Lower Chapel) Dcn. Guy St. Sauveur and Jan. 13 @ 1:30 pm
Rev. Brian Manning

Georgetown/Rowley St. Mary at Georgetown Church Dcn. Ray Doucette Jan. 19 @ 2:30 pm

Town Parish Presider Date/Time

Groton Our Lady of Grace Parish at St. James in West Groton Jan. 26 @ 1 pm

Groveland St. Patrick at Sacred Hearts, Bradford Jan. 19 @ 5 pm

Halifax Our Lady of the Lake Dcn. Tim Booker Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Hamilton St. Paul Rev. Michael Lawlor Jan. 19 @ 2 pm

Hanover St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Dcn. John Murray Jan. 22 @ 10:30 am

Hanson St. Joseph the Worker at Our Lady of the Lake, Halifax Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Haverhill (Bradford) Sacred Hearts Dcn. Eric Peabody Jan. 19 @ 5 pm

Holliston St. Mary Dcn. John Barry Jan. 21 @ 7 pm

Hull St. Mary at St. Anthony, Cohasset Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Jamaica Plain Daughters of St Paul Sr. Susan James Jan 19 @ 10 am

Kingston St. Joseph Dcn. Kevin Winn Jan. 17 @ 6 pm

Lakeville Sts. Martha & Mary Dcns. George Gabriel Jan. 13 @ 1 pm
& Charles Bower

Lawrence St. Mary of the Assumption Dcn. John DelloRusso Jan. 22 @ 5:30 pm
followed by bilingual Mass

Lawrence St. Patrick Rev. Alonso Macias Jan. 18 @ 5:30 pm

Littleton St. Anne at St. Catherine of Alexandria, Westford Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Lowell Holy Family (Bilingual) Dcn. Alvaro Soares Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Lowell St. Joseph Worker Shrine Pure in Heart, Lowell Jan. 22 @ 7-9 pm

Lowell St. Margaret (downstairs chapel) Dcn. Barry Lloyd Jan. 13 @ 2 pm

Lowell St. Rita at St. Marguerite D’Youville, Dracut Jan. 17 @ 7 pm

Lowell UMass Serenity Center Dcn. Michael Mott Jan. 22 @ 4 pm

Lynn Sacred Heart at St. Mary Jan. 20 @ 4:45 pm

Lynn St. Mary TBA Jan. 20 @ 4:45 pm

Lynnfield Our Lady of the Assumption Dcn. Tom O’Shea Jan. 21 @ 6 pm

Lynnfield St. Maria Goretti at Our Lady of the Assumption Jan. 21 @ 6 pm

Marblehead Our Lady Star of the Sea Dcn. Joseph Whipple Jan. 21 @ 3:30 pm

Malden Sacred Hearts Dcn. Van Nguyen Jan. 22 @ 1 pm

Marlborough Immaculate Conception Dcn. Chuck Rossignol Jan. 17 @ 7 pm

Marshfield Our Lady of the Assumption Dcn. John Hulme Jan. 13 @ 2 pm

Maynard St. Bridget Dcn. John Pepi Jan. 28 @ 7 pm

Medfield St. Edward (chapel) Dcn. Fred Horgan Jan. 20 @ 12:45 pm

Medford St. Francis of Assisi Dcn. Bob Breen Jan. 23 @ 7 pm

Medford St. Joseph at St. Francis of Assisi Jan. 23 @ 7 pm

Merrimac Holy Redeemer Church of the Nativity Dcn. Paul Dow Jan. 21 @ 6 pm

Methuen St. Lucy at St. Monica Jan. 23 @ 7 pm

Methuen St. Monica Dcns. John Kobrenski and Jan. 23 @ 7 pm
John Pierce

Middleboro Sacred Heart at St. Martha & Mary, Lakeville Jan. 13 @ 1 pm

Natick St. Patrick 24 Hour Eucharistic Adoration

Needham St. Bartholomew at St. Joseph Jan. 20 @ 7 pm
followed by Vespers

Needham St. Joseph Dcn. Bob Horne Jan. 20 @ 7 pm
followed by Vespers

Newburyport Immaculate Conception Dcn. Paul Dow Jan. 18 @ 6 pm

Newton Our Lady Help of Christians a Sacred Heart Jan. 19 @ 9 am

Newton Sacred Heart Dcn. Bill Koffel Jan. 19 @ 9 am

Norfolk St. Jude at St. Edward, Medfield Jan. 20 @ 12:45 pm

North Andover St. Michael Dcn. Vinny Gatto Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

North Plymouth St. Mary Dcn. Kevin Winn Jan. 15 @ 6 pm

North Reading St. Theresa of Lisieux Rev. Thomas Reilly Jan. 22 @ 9:30 am

Norwell St. Helen Mother of the Emperor Constantine Jan. 22 @ 10:30 am
at St. Mary of the Sacred Heart

Norwood St. Catherine of Siena TBA Jan. 24 @ 4 pm

Peabody Carmelite Chapel (Northshore Mall) Rev. Jilson George, CMI Jan. 22 @ 12:30 pm

Peabody Our Lady of Fatima (bilingual) Rev. Christopher Gomes Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Peabody St. John the Baptist at St. Thomas the Apostle Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Peabody St. Thomas the Apostle Dcn. Chuck Hall Jan. 18 @ 7 pm

Pembroke St. Thecla Dcns. Jack Sullivan and Jan. 18 @ 7 pm Charles Landry

Pepperell Our Lady of Grace at St. Joseph Dcn. Michael Markham Jan. 19 @ 10 am

Plainville St. Martha at St. Mary, Wrentham Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Plymouth (Manomet) St. Bonaventure Eucharistic Adoration Fridays 12-5:30 pm

Quincy St. John Dcn. Bill Proulx Jan. 19 @ 8:30 am

Quincy St. Joseph at St. John the Baptist Jan. 19 @ 8:30 am

Randolph St. Bernadette Dcns. Thomas Burke Jan. 20 @ 3 pm
& Jonathan Mosely

Randolph St. Mary at St. Bernadette Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Reading St. Agnes Dcns. Matt Baltier & Bill Reidy Jan. 16 @ 7 pm

Revere St. Anthony of Padua Dcn. Joseph A. Belmonte Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Revere St. Mary of the Assumption Rev. John Sheridan Jan. 19 @ 9 am
beginning with Mass

Rochester St. Rose of Lima at St. Martha & Mary, Lakeville Jan. 13 @ 1 pm

Rockland Holy Family (Main Church) Rev. James Hickey Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Salem Mary Queen of the Apostles Dcns. LaPointe, Morel, Pena Jan. 22 @ 6 pm
at Immaculate Conception (Bilingual)

Salem St. Anne Rev. John G. Kiley Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Salem St. John Paul II Shrine of Divine Mercy Rev. Robert Bedzinski Jan. 19 @ 3 pm
Jan. 21 @ 6 pm

Salisbury Star of the Sea Rev. Scott Euvrard Jan. 21 @ 9:30 am

Scituate St. Mary at St. Anthony, Cohasset Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Scituate St. Mary 40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration Jan. 18 @ 3 pm through
Jan. 20 @ 7 am

Somerville St. Ann Dcn. Joseph Guerrier Jan. 19 after 4 pm Mass

Somerville St. Catherine at St. Ann Jan. 19 after 4 pm Mass

Somerville St. Joseph at St. Ann Jan. 19 after 4 pm Mass

Stoneham St. Patrick Dcn. Chuck Hanafin Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Stoughton Immaculate Conception Dcns. Guerrini & Giangiodano Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Stoughton St. James at Immaculate Conception Jan. 20 @ 3 pm

Sudbury Our Lady of Fatima at St. Bridget, Maynard Jan. 28 @ 7 pm

Sudbury St. Anselm Rev. John Swencki Jan. 22 following
9 am Mass

Tewksbury St. William Dcns. Gerry Hardy & Tom Walsh Jan. 21 @ 7 pm

Townsend St. John the Evangelist Dcn. Chuck Kelley Jan. 26 @ 11 am

Tyngsboro St. Mary Magdalen at St. Marguerite D’Youville, Dracut Jan. 17 @ 7 pm

Wakefield St. Joseph Rev. Ron Barker Jan. 20 @ 7 pm

Walpole Blessed Sacrament Dcn. Alan Doty Jan. 23 @ 6 pm

Walpole St. Mary at Blessed Sacrament Jan. 23 @ 6 pm

Wayland Good Shepherd Parish Dcn. Geoff Higgins Jan. 20 @ 3 pm
at St. Zepherin

Wellesley St. Paul Rev. James Laughlin Jan. 22 @ 1 pm

Wellesley St. John at St. Paul Jan. 22 @ 1 pm

West Groton St. James Dcn. Chuck Kelley Jan. 26 @ 1 pm

West Newbury Holy Redemer/St. Ann Dcn. Paul Dow Jan. 22 @ 6 pm

West Roxbury Holy Name (Lower Church) Dcn. Tim Donohue Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Westford St. Catherine of Alexandria Dcn. Bill Dwyer Jan. 22 @ 7 pm

Weymouth Immaculate Conception Dcns. Dan Burns & Tim Maher Jan. 19 @ 8 am

Weymouth St. Jerome at Immaculate Conception Jan. 19 @ 8 am

Whitman Holy Ghost Adoration Chapel Dcns. Breadmore, McLaughlin, Jan. 22 @ 7 pm
Nickley

Winchester St. Eulalia TBA Jan. 20 @ 2 pm

Winthrop St. John the Evangelist Dcn. Jim Leo Jan. 21 @ 9:30 am

Woburn St. Anthony of Padua Dcn. Ed Giordano Jan. 21 @ 6:30 pm

Woburn St. Barbara at St. Anthony of Padua Jan. 21 @ 6:30 pm

Wrentham St. Mary Dcn. Joseph Flocco Jan. 22 @ 7 pm