The Massachusetts Legislature wrapped up the 193rd session without passing any of the anti-life legislation introduced when the session began in January 2023.
We are particularly relieved to see the following two bills assigned to “study order,” which means they are effectively dead:
Aimed squarely at undermining the state’s charitable pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), this bill was discriminatory and vague. If passed, it would have prevented our PRCs from freely promoting their compassionate, cost-free services to women in need. Because PRCs would have had no clear directives to follow, regarding messaging they use, they would have likely incurred citations and cost-prohibitive fines, threatening their very existence.
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Because of supporters like you and allies within our growing coalition, our PRCs will not face these dire consequences! Together, we testified on Beacon Hill during last summer’s committee hearing. Hundreds of you opposed this bill by submitting written testimonies via MCFL’s Legislative Action Center or by calling your elected representatives directly.
Without a doubt, your voice was heard!
H.1599 / S.1114 – An Act enhancing access to abortion care
This bill sought to disparage our PRCs, too, and would have mandated regular, multilingual communications from the Department of Public Health portraying PRCs as unsafe and deceitful. Yet the breadth of this legislation would simply have been detrimental for the preborn, young girls, their parents and our women.
Had it passed, this legislation would have eliminated parental consent for abortion. School health offices would keep any abortion-related conversations and referrals confidential. Medical personnel were removed from the process of obtaining an abortion, with the word “provider” replacing “physician,” “nurse” or another trained professional. Ultrasounds would have been omitted according to what that “provider” deemed outside a “standard of care.” “Information,” subjectively believed unnecessary for a woman to know, would have been kept from women before their abortions.
Again, our strengthening coalition and statewide network of supporters spoke with a unified, resounding “NO.” Legislators received your opposition testimonies. In submitting them by the hundreds, you prompted sponsors of this extreme bill to back off. Women are safer today; parents can parent; girls are protected — because of our combined efforts.
H.2246 / S.1331 An Act relative to end of life options
Our elderly and vulnerable residents continue to be protected from the evils of assisted suicide, thanks to coordinated efforts by yet another coalition of local and national activists. This bill, introduced once again this last session, failed to pass — again! Though S1331 could be brought to the floor during the upcoming informal session, only one legislator needs to oppose it at that time to derail it. You can still urge your legislator to do so.
We know that nearly every state that legalizes assisted suicide expands the legislation, resulting in the elimination of waiting periods (“same-day death”) and an expansion of who can perform assisted suicide (such as nurses and physician assistants), along with allowing death by lethal injection and telehealth appointments. Perhaps most concerning, states like California and Colorado changed the definition of “terminal” to allow chronic illnesses, like anorexia, to qualify as justification for assisted suicide.
We expect legislators like Senator Jo Comerford (D-Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester Districts) to reintroduce assisted suicide. We will be ready to fight against it, as we have for decades now. Assisted suicide kills human beings. As pro-life advocates, we must highlight the dignity of all human life and oppose killing, especially at the hands of a physician who is tasked with saving, not taking, a life.
In the last year, Massachusetts Citizens for Life supporters submitted more than one thousand opposition testimonies and made countless phone calls to legislators. While our road might not be red-state smooth, we absolutely have the power to ensure fewer potholes for our loved ones now and for those who are to come.
There’s been a fair amount of “freedom” talk lately, mostly by those who oppose a culture of life. They encourage a vote for candidates who will protect “reproductive freedom.” As Saint Pope John Paul II said, though, freedom is not the ability to do what we want, but the power to do what we ought. You demonstrated your power during the recent legislative session through participation, financial gifts, courage and determined refusal to be silenced by the majority.
LifeNews Note: Myrna Maloney Flynn is President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life
