Bishops decry expansion of abortion access

The Massachusetts Legislature voted to override Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of a bill that would legalize abortions up to birth and lower to 16 the age for girls to get abortions without a parent’s knowledge or consent.
The House voted 107 to 46 and the Senate voted 32 to 8 rejecting changes the governor made to limit the expansion of late-term abortions and to require parental consent before underage girls get abortions.
Explaining his decision to veto the bill known as the ROE Act, Gov. Baker insisted that although he supports abortion, “I cannot support the sections of this proposal that expand the availability of late-term abortions and permit minors age 16 and 17 to get an abortion without the consent of a parent or guardian.”
James F. Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference said, “The bishops are deeply disappointed in the legislative action over the past few weeks and will always promote the sanctity of life from conception to natual death.”
 MCC, the public policy voice for the state’s bishops, has said that the bill “would expand access to abortion in Massachusetts. Most troubling is the fact that under these provisions, women will have greater access to late-term abortions throughout the term of their pregnancy with no specific statutory requirement that a physician utilize lifesaving medical equipment if a child is born alive.”
The Catholic Action League called the override “a moral tragedy, which will likely result in even more pre-born children being cruelly killed under the color of law, and which is compounded by the reality that a clear majority of baptized Catholics in the House voted to license this grave evil.”
Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said in a statement: “The ROE Act was introduced nearly two years ago. Every day since then, thousands of Massachusetts Citizens for Life members, who reside in every corner of our state, used their voices to speak for those who cannot. They learned the truth about this irresponsible and dangerous legislation and bravely spread that truth within their communities – even during a pandemic. Almost as disheartening as this new law is the fact that legislators rammed this damaging bill through during COVID, inserting it into the state budget, knowing our opposition could not fight it in person due to quarantine restrictions.”

Statement of the Massachusetts bishops:
The unborn child is a human life that must be protected. That precious child has no voice to protect itself from the evils of abortion. The Catholic Church recognizes that it has a primary moral responsibility to speak for the most vulnerable among us - the unborn. That responsibility is at the center of the Catholic moral vision. Because of its centrality, the Church must oppose the directly intended taking of human life through abortion at any stage of pregnancy. It is a serious moral wrong and directly undercuts our unyielding goal to promote the common good throughout a civil society.

We are deeply disappointed by the failure of the Massachusetts legislature to uphold Governor Baker’s veto of legislation which further expands access to abortion in the Commonwealth beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy.  The new legislation also reduces from 18 to 16 years old the requirement for a teenager to have the benefit of adult counsel (parental or judicial) prior to seeking an abortion.  

With the issue of abortion at the forefront of our ministries, we recommit ourselves to defend life from conception to natural death. Our commitment to human dignity also includes strongly opposing capital punishment and physician assisted suicide, but it does not end there. We will also continue to defend life by protecting immigrants and refugees seeking our assistance, by serving the poor in our communities and by a constant appeal to others in our society to see the fragile ties which hold us together as a civil community. 
 

His Eminence Seán P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap.                       
Archbishop of Boston        
                                                    
Most Reverend Robert J. McManus
Bishop of Worcester
                         
Most Reverent Edgar M. da Cunha, SDV                            
Bishop of Fall River      
                                                      
Most Reverend William D. Byrne
Bishop of Springfield

December 31, 2020