More than 300 Massachusetts pastors have signed a letter addressed to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker voicing their opposition to a version of the ROE Act featured in the state’s budget bill.
“As tragic as this injustice for the unborn is, recent media reports indicate that there is now a renewed push to expand that dreadful number through passage of one of the most radical abortion bills in the nation,” the pastors wrote. “An ‘Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access’ or the ‘ROE Act,’ represents a shocking and callous disregard for human life and the importance of parental involvement in the lives of children. You have the power, the duty, to stop this legislation from becoming law in Massachusetts, and we urge you to do so.”
This new version of the ROE Act, proposed by Rep. Claire Cronin (D-Easton) would expand legal abortion after 24 weeks, which current state law allows “to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.” The new version would also specifically include cases where “an abortion is warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.”
It would lower the age of girls needing consent from a parent or a judge to get an abortion, from 17 and younger currently to 15 and younger if the amendment passes.
The current language of the bill doesn’t require that a doctor attempt to save the life of a baby born after an attempted abortion, as is now required by state law. The bill’s language says that late-term abortions would have to take place in a room with “life-supporting equipment … to enable the physician performing the abortion to take appropriate steps … to preserve the life and health of a live birth and the patient,” but it doesn’t state that the physician has to use the life-supporting equipment.
Although the amendment proposed by Cronin calls it a health care bill, the pastors disagree with that notion.
“The killing of a human being is not healthcare,” the pastors wrote. “Healthcare involves medical, physical, and psychological treatment and services that sustain and improve life, not extinguish it.”
“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 letter continues. “Abortion ends the life of a human child and puts the physical, mental, and emotional health of women, most especially young women, at risk. On behalf of women and babies across the Commonwealth, we petition you to veto this bill, should it come to your desk.”
Most of the pastors are evangelical Protestants, though the list also includes Roman Catholic and Orthodox priests.
Pastor Esteban Carrasco of House Destiny Church in Southbridge is one of the clerics who signed the letter.
He explained his decision in a telephone interview with New Boston Post on Wednesday afternoon.
“I think it’s devastating,” Carrasco said of the abortion bill. “The impact this is going to have is not just the votes that are sitting in the legislature, but the impact it will have for generations to come. I’m at a loss for words. I’m a father of twin girls, so I can only imagine the scare and the difficulty that is brought before us.”
Pastor Carrasco also takes issue with the Legislature trying to ram the abortion legislation late in the year alongside 776 other amendments.
“Nothing that’s ever rushed and not thought out completely produces great results,” Carrasco said. “I think if we want to provide our women and our young women with proper health care, it has to be thought out. It can’t be served out as a small amendment. This is a major issue. If we want to provide proper health care, we have to vet things out correctly.”
Cronin and the press office of Governor Baker did not respond to New Boston Post’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
In April 2019 the governor criticized the ROE Act abortion expansion bill, even while reiterating his support for legal abortion, saying: “I don’t support late-term abortions. I support current law here in Massachusetts. It’s worked well for decades for women and families here in Massachusetts. And that’s what we support.”
His Excellency Charlie Baker Massachusetts State House Office of the Governor Boston, MA 02133
Dear Governor Baker,
We, the undersigned Massachusetts faith leaders, want you to know that we have been praying for you and for all those in authority in our nation and our commonwealth. We also consistently pray that there will be justice for the poor, the downtrodden, the defenseless, and the least among us. We include amongst those our children still in their mother’s womb.
As we approach the season of Advent, we remember that John the Baptist reacted in his mother’s womb when greeted by Mary, who was also pregnant at the time with our Lord. We are dismayed to learn that, once again, over 18,000 children, our neighbors, had their lives brutally cut short while in their mother’s womb last year in Massachusetts.
As tragic as this injustice for the unborn is, recent media reports indicate that there is now a renewed push to expand that dreadful number through passage of one of the most radical abortion bills in the nation. An “Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access” or the “ROE Act,” represents a shocking and callous disregard for human life and the importance of parental involvement in the lives of children. You have the power, the duty, to stop this legislation from becoming law in Massachusetts, and we urge you to do so.
As a reminder, this latest version of the ROE Act, renamed “Amendment #759 to H5150: Improved Access to Healthcare” would still:
1. Extend legal abortion all the way to 40 weeks for effectively any reason “to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.”
2. Allow underage girls to get abortions without their parents’ consent or even knowledge. (340 girls under the age of 18 had abortions in Massachusetts in 2019. Under the ROE Act, none of their parents would have the right to even know.)
3. Expand who can perform abortions from physicians only to now include physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives.
4. Allow doctors to deny life-saving medical care to a clearly viable baby born alive during an abortion.
The killing of a human being is not healthcare. Healthcare involves medical, physical, and psychological treatment and services that sustain and improve life, not extinguish it.
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? Abortion ends the life of a human child and puts the physical, mental, and emotional health of women, most especially young women, at risk. On behalf of women and babies across the Commonwealth, we petition you to veto this bill, should it come to your desk.
