Massachusetts pro-life leaders are warning their state about a radical anti-life bill that would not only expand late-term abortions but also allow infanticide for babies who survive them.
State Democrat leaders and abortion activists renewed their push for the pro-abortion bill this week amid speculation that the U.S. Supreme Court may restore protections for unborn babies.
The ROE Act has languished in a state legislative committee for more than a year; but, this week, news broke that lawmakers are trying to revive the radical pro-abortion bill in the form of an amendment to the state budget. Amendment 759 to House Bill 5150 is scheduled for debate this week.
Reacting to the news Monday, Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons criticized the legislation for allowing babies to be abandoned to die after birth, Breitbart reports.
“In the midst of a deadly pandemic, where the focus has been about saving lives, the radical Democrats want to kill babies born alive following failed late-term abortions,” Lyons said. “As WBUR reported, this budget amendment is essentially the same bill as the so-called ROE Act which allows babies who have survived abortions to be killed on the spot.”
The ROE Act would eliminate basically all regulations and restrictions on abortion in Massachusetts. It would allow abortions through all nine months of pregnancy, even if there is no physical threat to the mother’s life, and could put young sexual abuse victims at greater risk by eliminating the state parental consent requirement. It also would allow non-doctors to do abortions.
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The bill also would allow passive infanticide by eliminating a requirement to provide medical care to a baby who is born alive after an abortion, according to Massachusetts Citizens for Life.
“Look me in the eye and tell me that it’s ok for a baby who survives an abortion to be left to die,” Mryna Maloney Flynn, president of the pro-life organization, said in a video statement Wednesday. “Tell me it’s ok for an abortion to be performed on a baby that’s old enough to feel pain.”
Flynn urged people to take action by calling their state lawmakers, state Rep. Claire Cronin who sponsored the amendment and House Speaker Bob DeLeo who supports it.
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.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the personal testimonies of nurses and abortion survivors themselves, also provide evidence that babies survive abortions. According to the CDC, at least 143 babies were born alive after botched abortions between 2003 and 2014 in the U.S., though there may be more. Research by the American Center for Law and Justice estimated the number is much higher, at least 362 between 2001 and 2010.
Despite the strong need for protections for babies who survive abortions, Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate blocked the federal Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act almost 100 times in 2019.
The Massachusetts budget amendment appears to be strategic, a way Democrat politicians hope to pass the legislation quickly to appease pro-abortion lobbying groups before too many unhappy voters find out exactly what the amendment does.
But outrage is growing. On Tuesday, more than 300 pastors in the state sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker, a pro-abortion Republican, urging him to veto the bill.
“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?” the pastors asked. “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: Contact Massachusetts lawmakers. Contact Speaker Bob DeLeo’s office: (617) 722-2500. Contact state Rep. Claire Cronin’s office: (617) 722-2396.
