All who are genuinely committed to the advancement of women can and must offer a woman or a girl who is pregnant, frightened and alone a better alternative than the destruction of her own unborn child. - Mary Ann Glendon
In June, I was fortunate to attend two out-of-state educational conferences, which attracted pro-life allies from around the world, and one event closer to home unlike anything I’ve ever seen. All three trumpeted one unified message: if we are ever to establish legal protection for every preborn human being, our movement must first propose and fight to incorporate every possible means of support for women experiencing an unexpected pregnancy.
During my time at Notre Dame’s Vita Institute, Governor Healey’s administration announced its $1 million, taxpayer-funded campaign against “anti-abortion centers.” My fellow attendees were incredulous when they learned about it, even those who also represented progressive states. I lost track of the number of times I heard, “How could your governor do such a thing? What are you going to do?”
“We will have our supporters tell her to knock it off,” I’d say. “But those who really deserve an explanation from Governor Healey are women who found help at our pregnancy resource centers which they couldn’t find anywhere else. We’re going to bring those women into the governor’s office.”
Just minutes after the state’s campaign announcement, the local and national media sought our response. Since then, our Pregnancy Care Alliance spokeswomen have told their side of the story (AKA the truth about pregnancy resource centers (PRCs). They’re doing a fantastic job! Not surprisingly, we have heard from additional media outlets. You’ll likely soon see a few more mainstream publications featuring the good work of our PRCs – and calling out the state’s abortion revenue-driven attempt to “shut them down,” as Senator Elizabeth Warren urged back in 2022.
Because the writing has been on the wall for two years (quite literally, with spray paint and other forms of vandalism defacing our PRCs), we were prepared. Not only did Massachusetts Citizens for Life initiate and sponsor the Pregnancy Care Alliance (PCAll), the state’s first-of-its-kind PRC network, providing a foundation on which PRCs stand together and respond to attacks, but we asked you to stand alongside them. And to date, almost 5,000 supporters like you have signed our petition, demanding that Governor Healey and her administration end their unjust assault on PRCs.
Last week, at our Celebration of Life Day, PRC clients, the women served inside these charitable community organizations, delivered the petitions. Event attendees cheered them on as they ascended the marble staircase to Healey’s executive wing. Watch how it joyfully, peacefully unfolded.
Images courtesy of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Rafael Ramirez, Melanie Morin, Michael Forrest & more.
My team and I wish to extend our sincere thanks to each person who signed the petition and the many who took the initiative to print and distribute copies at their churches, workplaces and within their families. We are not done! This effort is ongoing, and we will absolutely make plans for a second visit to Governor Healey’s office. Unfortunately, her schedule prevented her from being in her office last week when we all showed up, petitions in hand. So, we will ask her again if she might be willing to set aside a few minutes to hear from constituents regarding an issue about which they care so deeply.
Please continue to share the petition link or recruit others to help obtain signatures! Additionally, please consider making a gift to the Pregnancy Care Alliance. Going head-to-head with the state is a costly endeavor. We have every confidence that our plan will succeed, but we need your generous support in order for that to happen.
My second trip last month was to Washington, D.C., where I attended the National Right to Life Board meeting and Conference. This year’s Conference theme: We Love Both: Standing Strong with Moms and Babies. Not only were pregnancy resource centers central to numerous presentations and breakout sessions, but Massachusetts’ campaign to close our PRCs was, too. As on the Notre Dame campus, pro-lifers who gathered in our nation’s capital expressed shock that our governor would take the steps she has taken, and they eagerly wanted to learn how we will fight back.
What’s happening here in Massachusetts could very well happen in other states, too. Familiarize yourself with what the state is doing with the money you work so hard to earn. See what the state has produced for social media.
Then join us in our fight to save our pregnancy resource centers, a better alternative to abortion that each Massachusetts woman deserves. The eyes of the nation really are on us. Steps we take now might just be steps other states follow.
On this weekend when we celebrate freedom from persecution, injustices and manipulative taxation, it’s worth recognizing the parallels in the fight before us today. Let us not turn the other way when we are called to preserve those freedoms and to uphold the right to life.
With gratitude,
Myrna