Mass Pro-Life - Massachusetts

MCFL-- Voting- Have your paper and pencil ready!

MCFL Press Release — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:03:00 GMT

Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum all answered the 24 question National Right to Life Survey 100% pro-life and Paul almost 100%. You can vote pro-life by voting for any of them.

On the ballot also are candidates for Democrat and Republican State Committees. Many of the candidates for Republican State Committee are pro-life. This is important because their election gives us leverage and future candidates for public office.

We are calling into districts where pro-life candidates for Republican State Committee have races. These districts are listed below. Don't worry if you don't know the name of your district. You'll get a call with the name of the candidate.

This is a chance to cast an important vote!

Anne

MCFL: Your Blow for Conscience Rights

MCFL Press Release — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:17:25 GMT

Since votes in 2002, Sen. Brown has put conscience at the top of his list, according to the today's Globe. You will see, from this video and his open letter, that he continues in the U. S. Senate.

There will be nasty columns in the Globe and the Herald. They are going to be trashing him unmercifully for sticking up for us and our rights! Please get on the blogs under the articles and fight back. He deserves our support! Good blogging, Anne

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0...

Dear Friends,

One of our most fundamental rights as a people is the freedom of religion. It was right here in Plymouth, Massachusetts that pilgrims from Europe established a colony because of religious persecution at home.

Now, it is Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren who has assumed the mantle of oppressor. She and her allies on the left are dictating to Catholics and other people of faith that they must do as they are told when it comes to health care or face the consequences, regardless of their personal religious beliefs.

That's not the America our Founding Fathers envisioned, and it's just one of the unhealthy side effects of Obamacare, which seeks to impose a one-size-fits-all, government-knows-best health care program on the whole country.

Obamacare is bad law and needs to be repealed. Until that day arrives, it's important we fight to protect the public from some of its worst aspects.

I support a conscience exemption in health care for Catholics and other people of faith. That's why I signed on to Senator Roy Blunt's bill to restore the conscience protections in the law that existed prior to the passage of Obamacare.

Professor Warren is opposed to providing a conscience exemption. Her view is that government can mandate religious people and organizations to act in ways that are contrary to their most deeply-held principles. This type of thinking strikes at the very heart of the religious freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.

My last opponent, Martha Coakley, took the same position and said Catholics who work in emergency rooms should find a new line of work. This attitude is highly offensive to all Americans, not just people of faith.

Religious liberty is at the core of our nation's founding, and we in Massachusetts know that better than anyone. It is has helped make us a strong and diverse nation. We must continue to cherish it and fight back against those who would chip away at it.

Sincerely,

Scott Brown

MCFL: Know any pharmacists - including yourself?

MCFL Press Release — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:23:09 GMT

PHARMACISTS OPPOSED TO DPS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012, 9:30 - 11:30
MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS FOR LIFE OFFICE
SCHRAFFT CENTER, 529 MAIN STREET, CHARLESTOWN

DPS threatens you as a pharmacist because there is no conscience protection for you. The legislature just announced the March 6th hearings. There isn't time for separate meetings of the various professions, so we are inviting you and nurses to the MCFL office this Saturday. There will be a presentation about the DPS, how to form professional groups to fight the ballot question, and we hope, the formation of groups of pharmacists and nurses.

Please invite all the pharmacists and nurses you know.

RSVP: Press "reply" or call 617-242-4199 X230 . Please let us know even if you can't come so that we can keep you informed. I'm looking forward to seeing you on Saturday. Anne

MCFL: Georgia's law on assisted suicide. What does over turn mean?

MCFL Press Release — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:21:23 GMT

The Georgia legislature reacted to the atrocious activities of Jack Kavorkian by passing a law that made it a crime to publicly state that you would help someone commit suicide. They would have been wiser to have outlawed "assisting" someone to kill themselves, as thirty-nine other states have done. http://www.nationalreview.com/...

Does this ruling impact on the doctor prescribed suicide bill, H3884 and ballot question here in Massachusetts? Not legally. There could still be a problem, however. If the proponents are able to frame the question as though the Georgia law actually outlawed doctor prescribed suicide they could then claim that the current situation in Massachusetts, where doctor prescribed suicide is against common law, is unconstitutional and must be corrected. Note that suicide and attempted suicide are not illegal in the Commonwealth.

It is up to us to stress that we are not trying to change Massachusetts law, just to keep the state from approving, and thereby encouraging, doctors to prescribe lethal drugs.

I am very proud of your level of commitment to spreading the word about DPS. I hear back and know that you are really getting people to talk about it. Please keep up your good work. Anne

NB, if you are a doctor, please visit www.doctorsagainstsuicide.comwww.doctorsagainstsuicide.com. Drs. John Howland, Mark Rollo, and many others are doing a stellar job of identifying doctors across the state who are opposed to DPS. I know you will want to work with them.< /p>

If you are a lawyer, you are invited to the MCFL office at the Schrafft Center in Charlestown at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 9th for a special evening. Jennifer Popik, JD, from the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics in DC, is coming to address legal aspects of the proposed law in Massachusetts. Jennifer and the Center have been involved in all the other states where DPS has come up. She will go into many interesting aspects of the proposal. I hope this will help prepare you to speak out and write Letters to the Editor. Please reply to this email or call 617-242-4199, X 230 to let us know you are coming because we will provide a light supper.

If you are a nurse, please pencil in Saturday morning, March 3rd if you live in Eastern Mass and March 17th if you live in Western Mass.

If you are a pharmacist, please let us know. We are in contact with a few wonderful pharmacists and need to know who else is out there. There is no protection to keep you from being required to fill those deadly prescriptions!

Please pass this along to all doctors, lawyers, nurses, and pharmacists whom you know. Thanks! A.

MCFL: Mildred is on the death list. Are you?

MCFL Press Release — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:33:32 GMT

It used to be the Hemlock Society but that cut too close to the euthanasia bone. People were catching on, so they changed their name to Compassion and Choices and now they brag that we cannot beat them on those two concepts.

National Compassion and Choices paid $85,000 for about 85,000 signatures to get the doctor prescribed suicide petition on the ballot. Now they need to raise more money. It seems that they have rented most every mailing list in Massachusetts. Mildred and Brian and Sandra heard from them. If you aren't yet on their list, you probably will be. Besides raising money, this gives them a chance to educate each person who receives their mailing.

We don't have an out-of-state group who will mail to the homes in the Commonwealth, but we do have you! Each and every one of us must talk constantly to friends and neighbors about the dangers of DPS. Please watch this video from the MCFL Caucus in DC. Please pay close attention. Jennifer shares many excellent points for you to use. http://massprolife.com/videos.... You can do it. Thanks, Anne

Come to the 2012 Assembly for Life

MCFL Press Release — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:01:33 GMT

MCFL: Sunday

MCFL Press Release — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:40:46 GMT

Sunday: 39 years and 55 million dead babies. Who knows how many damaged women.

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston and others who are interested can join the Marchers in prayer as they journey to DC on Sunday at a local church at 3:00 pm or 7:00 pm. http://www.bostoncatholic.org/...

For Sunday also, we have joined Jill Stanek who says. "This Sunday, January 22, pro-life bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, commenters, debaters, apologists, and rabble-rousers will band together to counter NARAL's Blog for Choice Day by asking them everywhere they can, "What do you mean by that word, 'choice'"?

"The pro-life bloggers and their contributors are using the same day to ask them: 'exactly what do they mean by CHOICE'? Feel free to join the party. If you tweet, add #tweet4choice to your effort. Use your facebook or similar accounts too! It's good clean fun, and will drive NARAL nutz."

If you can't make the assembly on the 29th, you can still hear Wayne Cockfield.
"The Dangers of Doctor Prescribed Suicide - to You and to Society"
Wayne Cockfield, USMCRet, nationally known pro-life speaker who lost both his legs and partial use of one hand in battle, will speak about the dangers of the Doctor Prescribed Suicide petition, which will be on the Massachusetts ballot. Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Parish, 555 Pleasant Street, Worcester, on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 7:30 pm. Sponsored by Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Sunday ushers in the 40th post-Roe year. When the cause is life we will never give up. For those of us in Massachusetts, it will be the most challenging year we have ever had. With that in mind, we have chosen a more active, forceful logo for these emails. I hope you like it.
I leave at the crack of dawn Saturday morning for the National Right to Life Board meeting in DC. I'll let you know what is happening there. Anne

MCFL: What have we wrought?

MCFL Press Release — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:02:11 GMT

Today's story of the woman whom a judge ruled should be forced by her parents to have an abortion and then be sterilized is not, unfortunately, bizarre in our world.
Thank goodness another judge has overruled.

The interesting part of the story appears in this excerpt from a report by Peter Schworm in the Globe. When you read it you will see that the woman's severe mental problems could very well have been caused by a previous abortion. She certainly needs prayers.

What we have wrought! Anne

"Moe, who also suffers from bipolar disorder, has been pregnant twice before. On the first pregnancy, she had an abortion. On the second she gave birth to a boy, who is now in the custody of her parents, according to the Appeals Court ruling.
"At some point between her abortion and the birth of her son, she suffered a 'psychotic break', and has since been hospitalized numerous times for mental illness.
When she was in college, she began believing people were staring at her and saying she killed her baby. She becomes agitated when discussing her abortion, and has refused obstetric care and testing, the ruling stated. "

MCFL: March for Life - Massachusetts News

MCFL Press Release — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:44:40 GMT

Janet tells me that many buses are full but she can still fit in a few more people. The Braintree bus definitely has a few spaces. Sign up ASAP so that we can get your MCFL knitted cap to your bus captain. http://www.masscitizensforlife...

We have some delightful news about the Caucus. The link is a press release telling about a wonderful new program we have just started, which will be included at the Caucus. Michael will address Caucus-goers. http://massprolife.com/compone...

We just received news that the 2013 March for Life will be held on Friday, January 25, 2013! It will be the 40th Anniversary and we will have come off a winning election. Now that it will be Friday, we can all go. Looking forward to seeing you in DC and/or the Assembly on the 29th! Anne

MCFL: Prior abortion linked to autism? "Yes" says Harvard

MCFL Press Release — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:08:49 GMT

Brent Rooney of Justice for Kids, which looks at the connection between previous abortions and problems in subsequent children, brought to our attention this recent study from Harvard. It is so powerful that I sent his press release to all the media outlets in Massachusetts. Take a look at their website, http://www.justiceforkids.webs... It has intuitive but still-amazing information like the fact that the incidence of cerebral palsy went down by 71% in Poland when abortion was made illegal. You and Mother Nature have been right all along!

Following the press release, I have the link to a study showing that some stem cells of unborn babies stay with their mothers and protect them for a life-time! Not bad!
Anne

Harvard Study Links Autism to Prior Abortions

9 January 2012

Press Release: Third Study Links Autism Risk to Prior Abortions
Source: Brent Rooney (MSc; Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition)

In 2011 Harvard University researchers led by Kristen Lyall
reported that women with prior IAs (Induced Abortions) elevate
their relative odds of delivering a newborn later diagnosed with
Autism by a significant 26%.[1, Lyall] This makes at least the
third published study finding that prior IAs significantly raise
Autism risk in a newborn baby. In 2002 Ball State University
researchers led by Diana Wilkerson reported significantly
higher Autism risk for women with prior abortion surgery, a
finding that was NOT mentioned in the abstract (i.e. summary)
section of their study.[2, Wilkerson]. In 1999 Professor Larry Burd
and colleagues found that women with prior IAs tripled their odds
of having newborns later diagnosed with Autism.[3, Burd]
The total lifetime cost ( medical + non-medical + lost income )
for a U.S. citizen with Autism was estimated by Harvard U. Professor
Michael Ganz to be $3.2 million.[6, Ganz]

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ne...

MCFL: As the Duchess said in Alice in Wonderland

MCFL Press Release — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:33:57 GMT

We pro-lifers are keen political observers and participants because we know that politics is part of the process to restore the Culture of Life. Last night a good chunk of the country joined us to watch the results of the Iowa caucuses. Of course, pro-lifers are very fond of Rick Santorum!

We in Massachusetts wish Governor Romney would recognize the failings of state-controlled health care and come up with a better way to accomplish his laudable goals but we do not fault his pro-life position.

In the last few days we have had calls at the MCFL office from operatives of other campaigns trying to get us to criticize Romney's positions on life. The governor's positions are pro-life and we feel confident that they will stay that way.

During the fall, national media called for interviews. This 11/11/11 article from the Wall Street Journal, about the Romney turning point in 2005, is an example of where we have referred these operative,

http://online.wsj.com/article/...

Here is the relevant part of the article:

"Mr. Romney as governor pressed forward with a health-care law that he saw as his legacy, a market-driven approach that was in vogue with many conservative thinkers at the time. Now, it appears he may have miscalculated: The Massachusetts health-care law remains a major burden on his quest for the Republican nomination.

Mr. Romney met with abortion-rights activists while running for governor in 2002. He assured them he would protect women's right to choose abortion and said he would neither expand nor restrict such a right as governor, according to Nicole Roos, chairwoman of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts' political-action committee. She adds that he said he didn't wish to be called "pro-choice" and didn't like the "pro-life" label, either.

A leading abortion foe, Anne Fox of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, says she didn't even bother to reach out to Mr. Romney during the 2002 campaign, presuming that he was no ally.

Both groups found a change in 2005. In July of that year, Mr. Romney vetoed legislation that would have widened access to the Plan B emergency-contraceptive pill, by requiring hospitals to offer it to all rape victims and allowing some state-approved pharmacists to sell it without prescription.

To Mr. Romney, this was a principled decision consistent with his pledge not to change Massachusetts law relating to abortion.

Ms. Roos of NARAL says that although Mr. Romney had made such a pledge orally, he had stated in the group's written questionnaire that he supported efforts to expand access to emergency contraception.

The day after the veto, Mr. Romney wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed piece that his convictions on the issue had "evolved," and declared "I am prolife"-embracing a label Ms. Roos says he had avoided as a candidate in 2002.

Ms. Fox of Citizens for Life says her antiabortion group began having regular contact with a Romney aide and through him asked if Mr. Romney's wife, Ann, would become an honorary chairwoman of its new capital campaign. She did so."

Ah, yes, the Duchess, "Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."

Let's hope 2012 continues as it started. Anne

MCFL: Get a march on the March for Life - register now!

MCFL Press Release — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:01:31 GMT

I think everyone is behind schedule because of the delightful weather we have been having. Jan 22nd is fast approaching! The March for Life and Massachusetts Caucus will be Monday, Jan. 23rd

Bus Captains are already hard at work making arrangements for you and Janet is doing her usual outstanding job of coordinating. The Year 2012 is going to be huge for us, so start it off with a bang!

I hope every one of us can get to the March! Anne

39th Annual March for Life

Buses with one or two overnight stays

Departs from: Burlington Mall
Departure Date & Time: Sat. Jan. 21st at 10:00 PM
One-night (Sun.) stay at Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel
Return home at 5:00 PM after the March arriving home around 2:00 AM
Cost: $196 per person, double occupancy (other rates available)
Contact: Theresa Gorey at 978-475-6673; Cell 978-886-2911;
email thegoreys@comcast.net or Jane Finn at 978-658-6115; Cell 978-618-5005

Departs from: Immaculate Conception in Malden
with second pick-up at St. Margaret's in Burlington
Departure Date & Time: Sun., Jan. 22nd at 7:30 AM
Two-night (Sun. & Mon.) stay at Holiday Inn, College Park, MD
Return home on Tues., Jan. 24th arriving home around 8:00 PM
Cost: $210 per person, double occupancy; $315 single (other rates available)
Contact: Janet Callahan at 781-324-3564 or janet.callahan@yahoo.com

Departs from: St. Anne's in Salem
Departure Date & Time: Sun., Jan. 22nd at 6:00 AM
Two-night (Sun. & Mon.) stay at hotel along the Capitol Beltway in MD
Return home Tuesday, Jan. 24th
Cost: $165 per person, double occupancy
Contact: Bill Kirby at 978-821-2556

Departs from the following locations: Orleans, E. Sandwich, Wareham
and another location to be determined (possibly New Bedford)
Departure Date and Time: Early Sun., Jan. 22nd
Two-night (Sun. & Mon.) stay at Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill
Return home Tuesday, Jan. 24th
Cost: $230 per person, double occupancy
Contact: Kevin Ward at 508-291-0949 or fkw194722@yahoo.com

For information on "Red-eye" buses contact Janet Callahan at 617-242-4199 ext. 230 or jcallahan@masscitizensforlife.org.

Five Ways to Better Communicate Opposition to Assisted Suicide

tonykirby — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:18:00 GMT

Five Ways to Better Communicate Opposition to Assisted Suicide
By Tony Kirby
tkirby@massprolife.org

The forces of darkness are out collecting petition signatures to put "assisted suicide" on the ballot this election cycle. When you consider the financial forces at work, insurance companies, the government, the abortion industry, they will likely succeed since they can just buy their way onto the ballot. But they need the consent of the people to enact their dystopian future. We won't get a society killing its elderly without a vote on the matter, and that's where our challenge comes.

I'd like to assure you that the cavalry will come at the last minute and save us from this fate, or that the knight in shining armor will deliver us from a future where we're killing old people when they become too inconvenient. But there's no cavalry and no knights. You're it. You're all that stands between that and now. It's easy to despair, but we have to channel our frustrations into positive action. We still have a chance to win this, to assert a culture of life, and to stop this here in Massachusetts before the mental disease spreads to the rest of the country. After all, if assisted suicide loses here, they won't try running it as a referendum again for years. This is an enormously important time and political battle, truly for the lives of thousands and likely tens of thousands of elderly people.

We've asked the rich to hire field workers to fight this, and we've gotten excuses, denials and empty words. We've asked the other institutions to help us fund an effort to truly repel this atrocity, but many of them are either sitting it out, or writing a very weak press release. It's up to pro-lifers, the grassroots base of motivated people like yourself, to do something about this, and all we can do at the moment is ensure that it is defeated at the polls. All we have right now are our words, so we have to be extremely careful with how we speak about this topic, and ensure that everyone we speak with gets the right message. We have to be most persuasive because that's the only tool we have left to work with at the moment.

The following are five key things to think about during your communications, during your discussions with friends, coworkers and family members. It is extremely important that you be most persuasive, and these techniques will enable and empower you to be eloquent and resonate with your audience.

1) Choose who to spend your time on. Some people have hardened hearts on the topic. They have an opinion that you won't change. As well, try to spend time talking to people younger than you are, you'll have inherent authority that you won't appreciate. It's hard to take sound advice from someone younger, you just assume they know less than you do. So, focus on those younger, not older. Also don't worry if you have a hard time persuading your family. You should make arguments to them, but they can also easily dismiss you because of all the issues involved with a family. Focus on friends, co-workers, people in your community, neighbors and the like. That's the location for people you'll have the most impact upon. Don't waste your time trying to persuade the one person though, focus on quantity as well. We are in a political battle and need numbers, so don't neglect the basic quantity of people you can speak with.

2) Be confident to state a clear moral value. Too often people either talk past someone, or are too passive, it's one extreme or the other. Don't overwhelm someone, but don't be afraid to state a clear moral value either. We live in an age of relativity and subjective principles, for many people it's refreshing to hear someone say exactly what they believe, without hesitation or doubt. Assisted suicide is wrong, not just because you believe it, but because it is objectively, completely, wrong. Adult abortion is always inherently wrong. There might be caveats you can add later, or subtleties you can admit, but your general principle and morals are correct, and be unafraid in voicing them. Speak your truth loud and proud.

3) Adapt to your audience. Some people are going to be more financial in nature, and others will be more focused on the pain and suffering of the family and individual. You need to focus on what they care about. If they care about finances, then consider talking about the unnecessary costs in medical care caused by lawsuits, paperwork, and defensive medicine. We're going to condemn depressed elderly people to death because we're unwilling as a society to reform healthcare and confront the trial lawyers. If people care more about the pain and suffering of the family and individual, you can use that as a chance to talk about improved pain medicine and the dignity one has in living through pain among their family. It's not easy to seemingly promote pain, but there is a nobility to it that is worth talking about.

Anyone can refuse extraordinary measures to sustain their life, without legal consequence and in line with most modern religious teachings, assisted suicide is different. Don't let people confuse the issue with someone who is a week from passing, just in hospice care. Many of these suicides are by people who are otherwise healthy, or people who are avoiding the potential of pain, not escaping their current situation. The pain and suffering of the family will transform into a lifetime of guilt, wondering and second-guessing if we enable this bad policy decision. Not to mention the many twisted conflicts of interest that will arise when people who stand to inherit from a murdered person encouraging their demise.

As a plain statement of our society's morals, as well as to keep our elderly citizens alive and freed from the pressure to die, and the guilt of staying alive, this proposal should be defeated and the process made illegal. Murder should always be murder, not excused because people are expensive, inconvenient or too old.

There are also basic ways to speak to different politically-oriented people in society. To libertarians, it's wise to discuss the topic as one about the deprivation of rights to someone who is under duress. The state is going to balance its checkbook by sanctioning murder. To liberals, focus on the angle of this policy as taking advantage of a vulnerable population. There is undiagnosed depression in at least 75-80% of the elderly, and so this policy is one way to exploit that depression. To conservatives, one angle that will likely resonate is that this is a bad moral choice for society, caused primarily from overregulation of medicine, and attorneys who raise the cost of medicine through frivolous lawsuits. Tort reform in lieu of adult abortion is a better way to control costs.

Each group has a slightly different way of talking, words that work for a given group.

4) Keep the terms changing, keep people thinking. This is 'adult abortion' and 'outsourcing murder' and 'balancing medicare through medikill' - invent your own soundbites and spin to keep the terms changing and prevent a static phrase to define our side. For too long, on abortion, we have been plaintively "pro-life" and occasionally "anti-abortion" and rarely more than that. We have decades of creative messaging to make up for, and this is a good opportunity. Instead of allowing our views to get boxed in and dismissed, keep them changing. When people say we're just trying to 'deny rights' to the elderly, fight back and point out they're just serving the needs of the rich and lowering their taxes by killing costly seniors. If they try to box you in as a moralist, tell them you'll accept the label if that means they admit that they have no morals and are fine with murdering the elderly, that they endorse adult abortion. Don't let them box you in, keep the terms changing, and stay on the rhetorical offensive. We've had a long, painful, aborted generation because we lost the marketing battle in the sixties between choice and life, let's not make the same mistake and end up fighting this battle for a generation. Keep the rhetorical pressure on anyone who tries to box you in.

5) Connect to popular culture. The classic dystopian Charlton Heston movie, "Soylent Green" spoke about a society that devalued the life of the elderly and turned them into food for the young. The 90's movie "Gattaca" spoke to the question of those who were physically imperfect and showed how easily the future could relegate the weak to second class citizens. There are an infinite number of pop culture references to anchor your points. Most people recoil from dry academic discussions, so don't expect many people to enjoy that kind of conversation. Instead, use the images, characters and stories they know: the ones around them all the time in the form of popular culture.

Michael J. Fox is a popular celebrity with a serious ailment, who uses his condition to promote anti-life embryonic stem cell treatments. But if we were members of his family, even though we disagree with him and think he's wrong on that issue, we don't wish him ill, we don't want to exploit his frustrations, pain, and suffering to encourage him to end his life. As pro-lifers we care about even the people we don't politically like. Fox has had some great movies, and played some great characters. The world will miss his presence. There are a variety of celebrities who similarly have come down with terminal diseases and ailments. They are no less dignified because they are now older or weaker, we should not discard them, or anyone, just because of a misfortune or health problem.

Famous people with maladies can become a good reference point, a powerful example of a popular person who deserves respect. It's someone that everyone, even the politically apathetic, can think about. Pop culture can be our friend as we build a persuasive case for a culture of life.

The most important thing to take away is that there's not one talking point or soundbite that will work for all people. You have to connect with them where they are at in life. Some people are religious, others atheist, some are conservative, some liberal. Many are non-political or very apathetic. Many more embrace a soft nihilism and "just don't care" about anything, and present their own difficulties. Our goal is to reach everyone, not just those who already agree with us, or those at our church, our goal should be to reach everyone we can come across.

Learn how to connect with people in ways that can defeat this awful proposal and start building a culture of life that we can be proud of, renewing and recharging a society in need of love, charity, kindness, exemplified by revered and respected aged people all around us. The kind white-haired folks who can tell us of days gone past, and remind us all that the dignity we speak of for the unborn carries through life to the very end. As we love the unborn and one another, we love those at the end of their time with us. Let us build a better state and society by promoting their dignity and ending their depression instead of wishing their death. We can do that by talking to people where they are, and using all of our persuasive talents.

MCFL: Urgent Prayer Request from Anne

MCFL Press Release — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:51:19 GMT

The Massachusetts Medical Society will vote tomorrow on a motion to withdraw their opposition to Doctor Prescribed Suicide. They are hearing testimony today. Many of our doctors are testifying. Most of the people who signed the original petition are important members of the MMS, so this is a real battle.

This would give the proponents the chance to say that the MMS has withdrawn its opposition - huge for them!

Please pray very hard today and tomorrow that the MMS will restore its opposition to DPS.

God bless you!

Anne

PS. If you would like to be involved in an on-going prayer project, Joanne O'Brien has formed a state-wide Prayer Crusade. Please call Joanne, 508-653-5475.

MCFL: Barney Frank to retire and other good news...

MCFL Press Release — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:08:37 GMT

http://www.theblaze.com/storie...

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ne...

http://www.lifesitenews.com/bl...

As they say, "Have a good day!" Anne

MCFL: Congratulations to Cardinal Sean, hear Rita Marker, SCOTUS

MCFL Press Release — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:57:19 GMT

The nation's Catholic bishops have elected Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, as the new chairman of the Bishops' Committee on Pro-life Activities. In Massachusetts, we have always valued Cardinal Sean's strong commitment to life. We at MCFL wish him every success in this most-important role.

People who have heard Rita Marker speak are raving about her presentation. You may still hear her on Wednesday in Warren from noon to 2:30, lunch included, at St. Stanislaus Hall, 2270 Main Street.

Rita will also speak in Quincy on Thursday night at the Kennedy Center, 440 East Squantum Street, at 7:00pm. Sponsored by the Quincy Department of Elder Services.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next March about Obamacare. This allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just four months before Election Day.

The justices announced they will hear an extraordinary five-and-a-half hours of arguments from lawyers on the constitutionality of the individual mandate.

In addition to deciding whether the law's central mandate is constitutional, the justices will also determine whether the rest of the law can take effect even if that central mandate is held unconstitutional. You will remember that the Democratic leadership wouldn't allow the law to go through the proper conference process after Scott Brown was elected. This means there is no severability clause. If the individual mandate is unconstitutional, then, the whole law should be.

Justice Elena Kagan served as solicitor general in the Obama administration when the law was being formulated. She should, therefore, recuse herself.

Again, best wishes to Cardinal Sean and please try to hear Rita. Anne

MCFL: The good news and the bad

MCFL Press Release — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:55:22 GMT

"Pray as if it is all up to God and work as if it is all up to you" a wise neighbor of mine used to say. During the last 40 days, we saw this in action.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE has completed the current prayer campaign. Eva Murphy, Jack Rowe and I prayed in Lynn. We noticed that the number of people praying increased as time went by. At times, pro-life students from Northeastern joined the many, many others praying. Cori Connor-Morse, Lynn; John Fleury, Haverhill; Pauline Morris and Lee Crowley, Worcester; Steve Marcotte and Darlene Howard, Attleboro; and the people in Springfield all did exemplary jobs organizing and supporting the prayer warriors.

George Donovan, parliamentarian par excellence, who did yeoman work at MCFL Annual meetings, has died. God rest his soul.

You may have read that Dan Avila has resigned from his new position at the USCCB because of some complaints about an article he wrote for The Pilot. I must say that Dan was an unbelievably valuable asset to MCFL's right-to-life efforts and to all pro-life efforts in Massachusetts from the time he came to work as the lobbyist at MCFL in the early 80s. Given our experience with his clear-thinking and amazing analytical ability, I strongly suspect that any disputed points will eventually be resolved in ways that vindicate his thinking. In the meantime, let us pray for a new employment opportunity for him where he can thrive.

MCFL: Last week for free MCFL membership, NRLC on Cain

MCFL Press Release — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:20:36 GMT

Free Family Membership to MCFL

With every new

Choose Life Registration

Just send a picture of your car with the new plate or some paperwork and receive a $40.00 family membership for free. Deadline: Oct 31, 2011

There has been a small kurfluffle about Herman Cain's position on life. National Right to Life issued this statement. I notice that, as most commentators are checking the facts, they are coming to National's position:

National Right to Life: Herman Cain is Fully Pro-Life
by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 10/21/11 5:22 PM
The National Right to Life Committee is today vouching for Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's bona fides, saying the businessman who is considered by many to be the current GOP frontrunner is pro-life.
NRLC's comments come after a 48-hour period during which Cain has confused pro-life voters where he stands - by first using seemingly pro-abortion language saying government should have no involvement before finally clarifying he is pro-life and saying he wants abortions illegal.
"Herman Cain's pro-life," David O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, told National Review. "He addressed our convention last June. We are quite confident in his pro-life position. When he ran in the primary for senate some years back ... he ran as a pro-life candidate then in Georgia. We've known of him for a number of years, and he's always taken a pro-life position."
At that event, Cain, the former businessman and candidate, said the "Founding fathers got it right" including the right to life from conception.
"Don't infringe on the rights of somebody else and that includes the unborn," Cain said of what the Constitution requires.
Cain spent most of his time talking about the moral crisis and lack of God in the cultural conversations in America, saying, "We've got a moral crisis in this nation. One of the reasons we have this moral crisis today is because too many people are trying to take God out of our culture, little by little."
"Those that believe taking the life of the unborn is a choice has gotten away from the Godly principles," he said. "The way we're going to protect the unborn in this nation is to work on the right problem, get God back in our culture."

Hope to see you on the road sporting your "Choose Life" plate! Anne

How the cost of tuition helps drive Abortion Rates

giannarose — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:44:56 GMT

How the cost of tuition helps drive Abortion Rates
Affordability is a pro-life issue

By Gianna Rose
gianna.m.rose@gmail.com

Abortion comes from a woman cornered into a bad decision, a woman feeling forced. It's the exertion of pressure on her that pushes her into the waiting arms of a heartless abortionist who tells her that ending her pregnancy, killing her child, solves her problems. She's able to go back to her life, freed from those pressures, if the child is removed.

This is but one of the many complex ways in which the abortion rate continues among the 11.6 million women in college as of 2009.

Abortion is a choice for many women because they feel they lack other choices. Instead of being able to embrace motherhood, they feel financial pressures, as well as social pressures to abort a child instead of raising the child. Over half of abortions are performed on college-aged women, 18-24 years old. Over half of women reported in a study done and reported in Frederica Mathews-Green's "Real Choices" that they felt forced into choosing abortion, that they couldn't choose life.

The social and economic environment of these women help drive their choices, they make it easier to choose death and harder to choose life. To the extent that college tuition and its continually escalating cost reinforces bad choices, it should be changed.

Women who are in college are trying to improve their careers and earning potential, but when faced with a pregnancy can feel as though that choice is being denied to them. The College Board, which administers the standardized tests such as the SAT to get into most colleges, reports that the average public four-year college costs $9,000 just in tuition alone, and private four-year colleges are nearly $35,000 on average. This price doesn't count the costs of living and other expenses, however, which can easily add up to an additional $12,000 per year.

So a woman who gets pregnant in the spring of her junior year, attending an affordable local public college, has already spent $43,000 pursuing her education. In most universities, half the credits have to come from that university, so the option of transferring isn't an option. Many students, as well, lack comprehensive health insurance because they usually don't need it, and often don't realize that they might qualify for Medicaid for their other costs.

The pregnant college woman looks at her situation and sees nothing but problems: lost time, lost tuition, lost opportunities, lost coursework, enormous costs and a huge unknown.

Instead of a blessing, the child becomes an inconvenience.

It's important to note that many women who self-label themselves "pro-life" also have abortions, due in no small part to the enormous pressures imposed by surprise pregnancies.

Yet those concerns are a normal and natural reaction. Anyone can empathize with being shocked at the realization that life will never be the same.

Many pro-life groups have strived to serve these women, to accommodate them in many varied ways. Feminists for Life has had regular "Pregnancy Resource Forums" that help colleges assess their accommodations for pregnant women and mothers. Students for Life of America has helped grow the campus pro-life presence across the country with new groups.

But all of these actions primarily help those who are already looking for those services. They are helping the woman who has already chosen life, they are directing at those who have largely calmed their fears.

The real question is how to address the underlying fears and reasons, not merely to provide more resources or access.

The cost of college, and the increasing cost facilitated by federal subsidies and college administrators, has created a climate of cost-benefit analysis that many women can't justify. For a 20 year old to say that this unborn child should be born is to put her tens of thousands of dollars in debt, is going to cause more abortions. Not every woman will make the heroic choice to disregard the consequences and choose life because it is the right thing to do.

The cost of college has skyrocketed in recent years. To the point where college itself will likely be unaffordable for many. Yet colleges, in general, only spend 32.9% of their budgets on instruction.

Because of the goal of having a degree, however, many will pursue a degree financed by debt loads they cannot ever hope to pay off. Already, many are simply not paying down this debt. Many students drop out, some estimates claim that 50% of enrolled students eventually drop-out before receiving a degree, and many women who choose life are likely to be in that group, forced by their choice to start working and absorb that enormous amount of debt.

What's also interesting is that many are now talking about an "education bubble" similar to the housing bubble of 2007 or the internet stock bubble of 2001.
This bubble is a speculative bubble where the value of the underlying object has not kept pace with the irrational rise in price of the object. Here, the value of a college degree has not risen at the same rate as the rise in tuition.

Certain individuals such as Paypal founder Peter Thiel have made this point, that these tuition rates are likely to crash, and people should plan accordingly.

Colleges should be more focused around what the actual market needs are of its surrounding community. Instead of promoting a free-for-all in coursework, colleges should give gentle suggestions and encouragement for tracks that lead to realistic and sustainable jobs. Instead of being disconnected from the local job market, the college needs to interact and ensure that its graduates can find good paying jobs for succeeding.

Colleges should evaluate and assess their resources to pregnant women, through programs like Feminists for Life's "Pregnancy Resource Forum."

Colleges should reduce their tuition and have alternative tracks that are bare-bones, that give a solid education without any of the fees, extra costs and overhead of most colleges. Instead of catering to every whim in a bloated campus budget, providing a value track with a qualified professor and a quiet room for instruction should be the emphasis, it would serve an enormous unmet need.

The inertia to a basic proposal like this, to cut costs and subsequently cut tuition for the many who simply can't afford the debt, has structural, attitudinal, and financial opponents. The college administrators enjoy their fiefdom, students enjoy the idea of college being a four year escape from the "real world", a place of fun and quaint liberal arts indulgences, and bureaucrats and bondholders enjoy the power of loaning money guaranteed by the government and then later sold to bondholders as a reliable security with a guaranteed rate of return. The bureaucrats have power, students have fun and the bankers get socialized profits.

The problem is that pregnant women who want to choose life are ignored by bureaucrats and saddled with indebtedness to these bankers.

The system is set up to hike tuition, hide that sticker shock through a maze of loans, grants and other subsidies, and then act like a financial parasite off the earnings of the student for at least a decade. It's amazing that it's worked so well for so many for so long, but for a woman facing a pregnancy, interrupting this process before receiving that coveted and expensive degree, she is forced into an abortion in order to see any benefit to the time and money she's put in already. She either loses two years of her life and tens of thousands of dollars, or aborts a pregnancy of a child she can't feel or see yet.

These colleges are responsible for putting women in this situation and ignoring the real needs, denying their real choices.

High tuition forces abortions because it creates too high of a cost to women who want to delay their degree. High tuition, artificially imposed and unreasonable costs, are given to students because it's expected they'll just pay it, yet that mindset and policy is enacted to the ruin of young women who are trying to better themselves and become unexpected mothers.

The days of working one's way through college at a slower pace but without debt has become impractical due to high tuition. In years past a woman in college who got pregnant could take fewer classes, work part-time, and pay her way through while embracing motherhood. A good goal of a truly reform-minded and student-centered college would be to have a target total cost for the year at $5,000-$7,500 for all costs. This would require cutting extra programs, administration, scholarships, and would radically change the expectations for what college looks and feels like. But it would be a real option for students in need, and for pregnant women who now may need to work, raise a child and have an affordable option to finish their degree.

This is the challenge to colleges and the real unspoken and unacknowledged social justice issue in every city right now: pregnant women are killing their children because they are being fleeced by pricey colleges. The time for radical change and real alternatives is now.

It's also not sufficient for a college to create a scholarship or grant to patch this problem. That creates a stigma and unfair perception that these mothers would be taking from other paying students, it would create and foster a negative view towards receiving that benefit. Such a benefit might be a good thing, but it would fail to address the real underlying issue: tuitions that are disproportionate, out of control and causing abortions by saddling young mothers with unsustainable debt. Scholarships would help, but only through seriously cutting and trimming tuition will this problem be solved.

These costs are likely to crash sooner or later, and as the higher education industry acts like a cartel and raises its tuitions in tandem, they will eventually price students out of their colleges and force alternatives such as vocational training, certification programs or affordable colleges. It is in the best interest of colleges to start making their colleges affordable again, which will not only attract students but will have the life-affirming consequence of making sure women facing an unintended pregnancy can make reasonable choices and choose life.

MCFL: The Death Lobby coming to Boston tomorrow - please be there!

MCFL Press Release — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:27:09 GMT

The Medical Ethics Faculty Seminar "Care at the End of Life: Empowering Terminally Ill Patients with Information and Choices"
Friday, October 21 12:30 - 2:00 PM Countway Library Ballard Room, 5th Floor 10 Shattuck Street, Boston Kathryn L. Tucker, JD, Director of Legal Affairs, Compassion & Choices. Sponsored by the Division of Medical Ethics. RSVP to DME@hms.harvard.edu.

I hope you can make it - and share your reaction! Thanks, Anne

Good sources:
http://www.intellectualconserv...

Dr. Toffler: http://www.choiceillusion.org/...

Dr. Bentz: http://choiceillusionoregon.bl...

Dr. Stevens: http://choiceillusionoregon.bl...

http://markpickup.org - this is an new source

Other articles on the Oregon and WA pages of www.choiceillusion.org

More Information:
Assisted suicide is currently legal in two states- Oregon and Washington-and may have some legal protection in the state of Montana, due to a 2010 court decision. While doctor-prescribed death is legal in only these two Northwest states, assisted suicide advocates have announced they plan on getting a foothold in the Northeast: in Vermont and Massachusetts. Should they succeed, momentum could leave many other New England states vulnerable.

The most serious and imminent threat is in the form of a ballot initiative in Massachusetts. Compassion and Choices, operating under the campaign name "Dignity 2012," must collect almost 70,000 signatures of registered voters before the petition can be presented to the legislature. Lawmakers could either adopt it as a law or let voters decide in the November 2012 general election.

While there are numerous and deep legal flaws with a bill that sanctions suicide as a solution to any problem, one legal concern stands out - the absence of a witness. This should be of concern not only to pro-lifers, but also to any citizen of a state where assisted suicide is being promoted.

While pro-physician assisted death forces make some superficial effort to ensure the request for lethal medication is voluntary, there is NO effort to make sure the actual ingestion is voluntary.

Because there is no disinterested witness is required to be present at the time of death, there is no protection against the patient involuntarily being given the lethal drugs. Moreover, there is no assurance that the patient is still competent at the time of death.

The Oregon Department of Health [1] issues sparse yearly reports. They disclose that during 2002, some patients held on to the lethal prescriptions an astonishing 466 days before using them to commit suicide. In the previous year reports, patients were known to keep them lethal drugs 377 days. Since lethal prescriptions are legal only if the patient is expected to die within six months (180 days), this data demonstrates how questionable and inexact such predictions can be.

Moreover, a great deal can change in a person's condition over a year. Did the person's mental state deteriorate? Did caregivers tire of caring for a sick relative? There is so much at stake here, that at a minimum, Massachusetts voters ought to be troubled that under the proposed legalization of assisting suicide there is no way to ensure that the actual ingestion of a lethal medication is voluntary.

The pro-life community has always rejected suicide as a 'solution' to any problem. But this one legal concern among many ought to alarm any citizen of a state where assisted suicide is being promoted. For those in Massachusetts can refuse to sign any petition to put this measure on the ballot, and urge those you know to do the same. " Jennifer Popik, NRLC

Massachusetts Citizens for Life
The Schrafft Center, 529 Main Street
Boston Massachusetts 02129
United States