Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. - Clarence W. Hall
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a case that relates to mifepristone, one of two drugs used in a chemical abortion. The legality of the drug itself, approved for use since 2000, is not in question. Instead, the Court is reviewing provisions that existed to increase women’s safety when ingesting the pill. In 2016 and in 2021, the FDA removed those commonsense safeguards, including that a woman be seen in person before taking mifepristone. Abortion rights advocates claim women’s access outweighs safety measures.
Like a surgical abortion, though, chemical abortion generates significant revenue, particularly for Danco Laboratories, which manufactures mifepristone. During his exchange with Danco’s legal counsel, Jessica Ellsworth, Justice Samuel Alito blatantly called out the industry's profit motives.
Alito: "And so I gather your injury is that you think you're going to sell more if the restrictions that previously were in place were lifted?"
Ellsworth: "Yes."
Alito: "So you're going to make more money?"
Ellsworth: "The – the injury is that we are prevented from selling our product in line with FDA's scientific judgment about the safe and efficacious use of the drug."
“Prevented from selling our product.” Justice Alito dug beneath the abortion industry’s dirt and lifted five key words of truth from the shadows. Since then, I’ve thought about the many lies we hear from abortion proponents, long draped like a weighted blanket over tragic abortion realities. Yet, as I recalled each initiative Massachusetts Citizens for Life introduced in the last year alone, in partnership with you, an undeniable flash interrupted my perceptions of utter darkness. Here’s how you helped to shine a light!
Pregnancy Care Alliance (PCAll)
In the last few years, Massachusetts government officials at the local and state level have sought to prevent the charitable efforts of pregnancy resource centers (PRCs). In response, Massachusetts Citizens for Life launched PCAll in April 2023, in collaboration with a small group of determined women who lead eastern Massachusetts PRCs. In less than one year, PCAll has grown to include member PRCs from across the state! Support you provided along the way made it possible for us to carry out our first public awareness campaign, through which women told their stories of being helped by PRCs. We installed a Braintree billboard, caused panic among abortion rights advocates (such fun!), and offered PRC tours to the public, our legislators and the media.
Today, I’m pleased to present PCAll’s next project, in which I hope you will participate. First, some context:
Results from a 2023 public records request by Massachusetts Citizens for Life to the Attorney General’s office revealed that, in more than four decades of service to tens of thousands of clients, not one complaint of merit has ever been filed against a Massachusetts PRC.
Despite providing material goods, healthcare and counseling services, the value of which exceeds tens of millions of dollars over the course of their history, PRCs have faced mounting pressure from the state, hindering their ability to effectively offer a life-affirming choice to women. Senator Elizabeth Warren cut to the chase back in July 2022, publicly saying of PRCs, “We need to shut them down.” One needs only to review Ms. Ellsworth’s five words to Justice Alito to understand why.
It is up to us to protect our PRCs. Add your name to our new petition, which calls on Governor Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, each state senator and representative, as well as the commissioner of the Department of Public Health, to not only withdraw all attempts to thwart the work of our PRCs but also to issue a public acknowledgment that PRCs offer the choice women deserve. Then share the petition with your network. At our Celebration of Life Day on June 25, women helped by Massachusetts PRCs will personally deliver hard copies of each petition throughout the State House and share their stories with legislators.
Find more information, including specifics on the state’s attacks, on the PCAll website.
Abortion Pill Rescue: APRScience.org
Last week, the Guttmacher Institute reported that, in 2023, chemical abortions made up 63% of all elective abortion procedures nationwide. As the abortion pill became more available, Massachusetts Citizens for Life expected the demand for Abortion Pill Rescue (APR) therapy to increase. APR is a safe means of potentially reversing a chemical abortion, if a woman changes her mind within 72 hours of taking mifepristone. According to Heartbeat International, APR has already saved the lives of more than 5,000 babies worldwide! Some of those children reside here in Massachusetts, because their mothers, in their most desperate hour, received APR from our PCAll members.
However, abortion rights supporters claim APR is unsafe and, as “junk” science, should be outlawed (Ellsworth's five words are the reason once again). Anticipating such challenges, MCFL launched APRScience.org in January. The site is an educational project presenting the science of Abortion Pill Rescue to a global audience. My team curated extensive international research and clinical studies for this amazing resource, which affirms the safety and effectiveness of APR. Early credibility and promise of APRScience.org allowed us to obtain peer reviews from the world's leading APR experts. As a result, web traffic to APRScience.org from six continents increases by the day. Our supporters across the state are informing people around the world!
MCFL Legislative Action Center
Elected officials across the state received thousands of written testimonies from Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which you submitted through our new online platform, the Legislative Action Center. Because you raised your voice in opposition to pro-abortion efforts, our pregnancy resource centers remain open, mothers and fathers still have the right to prevent their young teen’s abortion and, undoubtedly, innocent lives have been saved.
Last month, two state reps told me that neither H.1599 / S.1114 - "An Act enhancing access to abortion care - Massachusetts Citizens for Life" nor H377 / S174 Pregnancy resource center gag rule are likely to advance this session! The reason? One of the reps said that legislators heard from you and parents who were “very concerned about the implications of this legislation.” Well done!
Education
Our organization receives no funding other than from readers like you. It is only because of our generous and dedicated supporters that, for the last 51 years, Massachusetts Citizens for Life has educated people across the state about critical truths, including the humanity of the unborn child, the violence of abortion and why women deserve better than false promises surrounding it.
To date, thousands of our fetal development booklets, which we published in 2022, have landed in the hands of young and old alike. A win of which we are particularly proud: a PCAll member guided public high school students through the booklet recently, as shown above. You made this possible!
In December, your Giving Tuesday contributions allowed us to order dozens of high-quality fetal model display sets. We have distributed these captivating educational tools to pregnancy resource centers and schools. We have a few left, so please respond to this email if you would like a set for your classroom or organization. We will ship one to you at no cost, thanks to our donors.
Pro Life Communication Seminars
In order to achieve victory in our fight for life, each one of us must confidently and effectively communicate the truth. And during an election year, we need to boldly share a strategic message. This spring, join Massachusetts Citizens for Life and the Leadership Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit that trains individuals nationwide, at one of six in-person trainings. Our single-evening events, offered at three western Massachusetts locations and three locations in Greater Boston, include dinner and all learning materials. There is no cost, but pre-registration is required.
One of MCFL's long standing and most beloved events, the Mother's Day Dinner is traditionally held in western Massachusetts and brings pro-life advocates of all ages together for poignant reflections on motherhood and informative insights into the pro-life movement.
This year, you're in for an extraordinary night, as our keynote speaker, Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, will describe why a declining birth rate negatively impacts us all. From witnessing forced abortions in China to becoming a passionate advocate for life, Mr. Mosher's journey is deeply moving and highly relevant at this moment.
Secure your place now for an informative and memorable evening. Free parking is available.
Graceful, direct, and truth that is impossible to ignore, these specialty license plates are perhaps the best educational effort in the state! If you haven’t gotten your plate yet, purchase one today! Funds from each plate purchase directly support our pregnancy resource centers through grant programs.
This weekend, Christians revel in Easter morning sunlight that dispels a tomb's darkness and illuminates new life. We, too, should celebrate, knowing with certainty that victory in our ongoing battle is reserved for truth!
With warmest wishes for a blessed Easter,