A Massachusetts bill sitting on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk would basically allow newborns to be abandoned to die by infanticide, state pro-life leaders warned this week.
The state budget bill, which includes an amendment to expand abortions, passed the Massachusetts House and the Senate earlier this month. Along with weakening protections against infanticide, it also would expand late-term abortions and allow young girls to abort their unborn babies with their parents’ knowledge or consent.
The Massachusetts Family Institute is calling the budget amendment the “Infanticide Act” because it would change a state law that requires abortionists to provide medical care to a baby who survives an abortion, Breitbart reports.
“The reason why this legislation has earned the moniker ‘Infanticide Act’ is because it removes the requirement that an abortionist ‘shall’ save the life of a baby born alive during a botched abortion and replaces it with the requirement to simply have life-saving equipment in the room with no obligation to use it,” the pro-life organization said.
Currently, state law requires that “the physician performing the abortion shall take all reasonable steps, both during and subsequent to the abortion … to preserve the life and health of the aborted child.”
The state budget amendment would change the language to require “life-saving equipment in the room where the abortion takes place” but remove “the requirement for abortionists to actually have to USE it,” according to the pro-life organization.
Babies do survive abortions, and strong evidence suggests most late-term abortions are done on healthy mothers carrying healthy babies. State health data from just three states showed that at least 40 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2016 and 2018.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Gov. Charlie Baker at 617-725-4005 or email him to ask him to veto the pro-abortion amendment.
Pro-life leaders are urging people to contact the governor and ask him to line-item veto the amendment.
According to the Boston Globe, Baker recently said he is “unhappy” about the amendment, but he did commit to vetoing it.
“I do share some of the unhappiness that was raised by a number of members of the Republican Party – that putting policy in the budget was something that both leaders in the House and Senate said they would not do,” Baker said. “And it’s pretty hard to argue that this isn’t a major policy initiative that is now in the budget.”
Massachusetts Citizens for Life asked people to call Baker and state lawmakers with the message: “Look me in the eye … and tell us it’s okay for people other than doctors to perform abortions. Tell us it is okay for babies old enough to feel pain to be surgically aborted. Tell us THAT is good for our people and our state.”
Currently, Massachusetts prohibits abortions after 24 weeks except if the mother’s life is at risk. The amendment would expand these exceptions, allowing viable, late-term unborn babies to be aborted if they are diagnosed with a fatal anomaly or “to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health” – a definition that can be widely interpreted.
It also would weaken a state law that protects babies who survive abortions from infanticide, and lower the parental consent age from 18 to 16. Additionally, the amendment would allow non-doctors to abort unborn babies.
Democrat leaders argued that immediate action is necessary after pro-life Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. They fear the high court could restore protections for unborn babies by overturning Roe v. Wade.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the American Civil Liberties Union support the pro-abortion amendment.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Catholic and Protestant pastors in Massachusetts also have voiced their opposition to the pro-abortion.
“In 2019 alone, there were 18,593 abortions performed in the Bay State. How much more ‘accessible’ does the murder of unborn children need to be?” more than 300 pastors wrote in a letter to Baker. “Abortion ends the life of a human child and puts the physical, mental and emotional health of women, most especially young women, at risk.”
A recent poll by Susan B. Anthony List found strong opposition to the Massachusetts legislation. According to the poll, 62 percent of Massachusetts voters oppose late-term abortions, including 49 percent of Democrat and 66 percent of independent voters. The same number, 62 percent, also supports the current state law requiring parental consent before a girl under 18 has an abortion.
Similar legislation passed in New York, Illinois, Vermont and Rhode Island last year, prompting massive outrage. Another pro-abortion bill narrowly failed in New Mexico because of strong public opposition.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Gov. Charlie Baker at 617-725-4005 or email him to ask him to veto the pro-abortion amendment.
