An abortion expansion amendment to the state’s budget bill has drawn immense opposition in Massachusetts from church-going Christians, with a wide-ranging coalition of religious leaders signing their names to a letter urging it to be defeated.
Earlier this month, New Boston Post reported that more than 300 Massachusetts pastors signed a letter addressed to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker making their opinion known. The number now exceeds 400.
These versions of the bill would expand the definition of legal abortion in Massachusetts after 24 weeks in cases where “an abortion is warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.” Current law allows abortion after 24 weeks “to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health.”
It would lower the age of girls needing parental consent to have an abortion from 17 and younger now to 15 and younger if the amendment passes. It would also eliminate language from existing Massachusetts law that requires doctors to attempt to save the life of a baby born alive after an attempted abortion.
New Boston Post previously reported on the content of the letter. This week, a reporter reached out to many of the religious leaders who have signed onto the letter.
More than 20 responded by email. Here are responses we got:
Pastor Jeff Black of New Life Community Fellowship (Pittsfield, Massachusetts):
“I urge the Governor to use his line-item veto on this amendment. The right to life, if taken away negates all other rights. The very soul of our commonwealth is reflected in the mirror of how we treat our most vulnerable. Passing the ROE Act reveals a terrible darkness that only God can remedy. My prayer is for us all to surrender to Jesus Christ and reflect His light.”
Pastor Dan Allen of Peoples Church (Ashburnham, Massachusetts):
“There are a number of troubling aspects of the Roe Act, but the ones that should be very offensive, even to those in the pro-choice camp, are the age of consent to have an abortion and the fact that a live-born baby could be left to die without medical treatment. Those two issues should not fall into political camps. As the father of a teenage daughter, I find it unconscionable that she (or anyone else’s minor daughter) could have a major medical procedure without my knowledge or consent. And the issue of allowing a living infant to die without treatment is pure evil. There is no other word to describe it.
I don’t believe the average Massachusetts resident realizes that this is part of the amendment because the majority of news media outlets are not reporting it. Governor Baker should veto it.”
Pastor Mark Broderick of Faunce Church (Plymouth, Massachusetts):
“The collapse of a nation must be no easier to identify than by its indiscriminate slaughter of its weakest and most vulnerable.”
Senior Pastor John Brackbill of The Church of the Open Bible (Burlington, Massachusetts):
“The ROE Act is another step away from a culture of life to a culture of death; Something that, as a Christian, father, pastor, and citizen of Massachusetts, I cannot support. Every single child (inside or outside of the womb) is made in the image of God. It is an affront to our Creator and his love for humanity through Jesus Christ that our state would support such abortion infanticide; therefore, I had to sign the recent letter urging the governor to veto the horrendous ROE Act.”
Reverend Dr. Sara Singleton of Old South Presbyterian Church (Newburyport, Massachusetts):
“Working as a special care newborn nurse as well as labor and delivery nurse prior to the pastorate, I know first-hand that every effort to protect and save the life of babies 20 weeks plus is what we do. Every effort goes into supporting a premie born after 20 weeks because most parents want their baby to live. I was recently at Children’s Hospital NICU with 22-week-old babies who had anomalies, and their devoted parents took turns at the bedside for months on end. The ROE Act would legalize killing the unborn after 20 weeks if that child’s life was not wanted.
Sixteen-year-olds are not old enough to vote or buy alcohol, but they can terminate the life of a human without parental knowledge? Such authorization by the law goes against the understanding of the psychological development of the adolescent as well as the inner moral code we humans share.”
Pastor David Berroa of Peniel Spanish Christian Church (Lowell, Massachusetts):
“There is a tendency for theology to adapt to the majority force that governs a city, state, or nation, it seems that it is being reflected in the state of Massachusetts. This was what happened in the ancient church of Laodicea, where the Jewish community was buried under the power of science, wealth, thus silencing the active prophetic voice of a people who believe in the principles of the kingdom of heaven. It is time to wake up and raise our voice and not adapt to mainstream currents, but rather to defend our values, NO to abortion, NO to ROE Act.”
Reverend Dan Meiners, a Pastor Care Team Volunteer at Excel Church (Hubbardston, Massachusetts):
“This tactic of attaching such an important and controversial moral issue to a budget bill is especially offensive in the light of the calls for ‘Unity’ in the wake of the recent election. It says, ‘Shut up!’ to those who care about women who want to carry their babies to term, but need support, especially considering that a disproportionate number of abortions are performed on women of color.”
Pastor Renzo Ventrice of Redemption Gate Mission Society (Springfield, Massachusetts):
“As a Pastor and an Itinerant Evangelist in New England, I have heard the testimonies of both men and women who decided to end pregnancies by abortion. Even though as Christians they have been forgiven by God, they’ve expressed great sorrow and regret for this terrible decision. These precious people need our love and compassion because all of us have sinned and are in need of Christ’s mercy and salvation. This horrible procedure must be forever stopped in America! Once upon a time, the horror of Slavery was allowed here. It took a Civil War to free these poor Blacks made in the image of God. It will take a war of unceasing prayers, picketing, peaceful protesting, powerful, political pressure to once and for all end this national tragedy. When God’s will for the Unborn rules and reins in America, we will have won a war to save all lives.”
Pastor Stephen Lee of Bethany Assembly of God (Agawam, Massachusetts):
“I signed onto the petition for pastors who oppose the Roe Act because I am pro-life and not in favor of any law that expands abortion. But this legislation is particularly concerning to me because it changes the age at which parental consent is required for an abortion. I realize that not all parents and guardians are invested in the best interests of their children, but I am concerned that this change will not decrease the likelihood that a minor will be coerced to get an abortion, but increase it.”
Pastor Maria Murphy of Father’s House Family Church (Dighton, Massachusetts):
“I added my name because as a pastor, person of faith, mom, grandmother, and follower of Jesus, I have a responsibility to speak up on issues like this one. My concern here is the new amendment takes parents out of the conversation for 16-year-olds. This is unthinkable. I can’t even imagine having to make that decision on my own at 16 years of age. It also scares me to think that [with] all the sex trafficking and crimes against young girls we see that this amendment is even a thing. Where’s the accountability?”
Pastor Dale Atlas of John 17:23 Ministries (Boston, Massachusetts):
“It seems beyond reason that we have fallen so far that we would give our approval for a viable life, and a full-term baby to be denied life. And not only so, but especially when there are so many people crying out for a baby to love. I was just reminded that a child up to age 16 needs parental consent to receive a Tylenol but would be encouraged to not have her own parents walk this journey with her. We all make mistakes. Some we look back on and wonder what we were thinking. But there are others that stay at the back of our minds, deeper regrets that we want to forget but somehow seem to almost haunt us. I believe that if Amendment 759 passes, this will be one of those mistakes.
I called Claire Cronin of Easton, who filed the bill, and Robert DeLeo who also wants to push it through, to see if they would talk with us and help us understand why this bill is so important to them, but received no response. I believe that if Amendment 759 passes, those who approve it will someday have deep regrets when they realize its implications if they don’t already. And ultimately, it is Governor Baker who holds the final word. I believe Governor Baker is doing a good job, especially under these Covid conditions. We can only hope he uses the same judgement and looks ahead when he considers the fate of these most innocent and vulnerable.
Father Christopher Stamas of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral (Worcester, Massachusetts):
“As people of faith who also believe in the science of biology, we know that what exists inside of the womb is another human life, just as it is outside the womb. All human lives are precious and sacred and it is not up to one person to determine if that life is useless or not. This bill goes way too far in saying that human life is expendable and that emotions alone should determine whether or not a child has the opportunity to grow up. Our representatives should be more careful about leading us down a slippery slope toward all human lives at any time being equally expendable.”
Pastor Matthew Thornton of Christ Community Church (Taunton, Massachusetts):
“This new bill that would allow teenagers to get an abortion without parent/guardian consent is ethically and morally irresponsible. We do not allow children under the age of 18 to make other important life decisions, including medical decisions, for themselves yet we will allow them to make one that ends the life of an unborn baby. In the course of my time in ministry, I have met someone who is an abortion survivor and to think that a bill such as this would take away the ‘shall take all reasonable steps to save the life of the baby’ and reduce it to no obligation to administer life-saving measures is beyond unthinkable. I believe in equal rights for all people and the moment a child is conceived they are a human being. With this bill, even after leaving the womb they are still not afforded any human rights? This is why I signed the letter.”
Pastor David Meunier of Plainville Baptist Church (Plainville, Massachusetts):
“The killing of unborn children is not an advance in health care. When health care is denied to babies who survive an abortion procedure this is not an advance in health care. It is an advance in murder.
To allow greater freedom for minors to seek abortion without parental or judicial consent, when they can’t take Tylenol in school without parental consent calls attention to the fact that there is some fishy business going on in Beacon Hill.
When an amendment of this significance is simply thrown in along with hundreds of others in a budget discussion, it shows the deceitfulness of those who wish to pass this law. These lawmakers will give an account one day to an Almighty God who is the Creator of Life. I pray they find mercy in repentance and faith in the Savior before they stand at His court.”
Pastor Dave Aucoin of Abundant Life Assembly of God (Swansea, Massachusetts):
“As a pastor, I am against abortion because I’ve seen the devastation that it causes in post-abortive women. I don’t have one woman in my congregation who is glad that they had an abortion but I have many with regrets, even though many years have passed from the time it happened.”
Father John Fleser of St. Mark of Ephesus Orthodox Church (Westwood, Massachusetts):
“Look at how the Roman law protected a pregnant woman sentenced to death: as the laws of the Romans prescribed a certain course of action upon a pregnant woman even if she falls into an error that invites the penalty of death, they do not kill her before she gives birth to the child, she carries inside her. And quite properly, because the good lawgivers did not consider it just for the sinless to be annihilated together with her who sinned. If a pagan society would spare those who do not sin at all, what should a ‘civilized’ society do to those who are still in the womb of their mothers?
The Orthodox Church has taught for 2,000 years that abortion is murder and those who contribute to it are considered murderers. This includes politicians, doctors, nurses, the mother and the father of the child as well.
Take the worst-case scenario, rape, incest, or the mother’s life is endangered and it is decided to abort the child, it is still murder. The point is that you must be held accountable and responsible for your actions, you cannot hide behind the law. If a decision is made to abort the child, then the one making the decision must accept responsibility for murdering that child for he is accountable before God for that choice. No law is too strict, it is the responsibility and accountability that everyone is trying to hide from.
The solution to abortion lies within the power of each individual by remaining pure and a virgin until he marries and if he never marries, he remains a virgin until he dies. The Orthodox Church teaches there are two ways of living: for a single individual he, as I said above, remains a virgin or he marries and remains chaste in that marriage. The other option for a single person, if he chooses to seek communion with God free of all attachments to the world, is to enter a monastery.”
Pastor Thomas W. Michael of New England Baptist Church of Boston, Inc. (Medford, Massachusetts):
“One of the Ten Commandments of the Lord is ‘Thou shall not kill’. Abortion is the killing of an innocent and helpless human life. Life begins at conception and anyone involved in the bloodshed of life will stand guilty before a holy God. Please don’t allow this sin to be sponsored by your vote or my tax dollars.”
Reverend Dr. Robert Leroe, Interim Pastor of Middleton Congregational Church and Retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel):
“When I deployed into Iraq during Desert Storm with the 28th Combat Support Hospital from Fort Bragg, I thought that if we were to lose this war, it might well be God judging us for the holocaust of abortion. I am grieved that America regards the unborn as non-persons without the protection of the Constitution. This is a human rights issue. Unborn lives matter.”
Reverend John Leggat, formerly of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church (Lowell, Massachusetts)
“By all means include me as diametrically opposed to the left’s wrong-headed insistence that babies be killed in the middle of God’s process of knitting them together in their mother’s wombs. This nation has fallen under a Molechian-type trance foisted on us by the most deceptive and devious spirits, power and principalities imaginable. Jezebel has nothing on us!!
The good news is that she was found out for who she was, pushed out a window, run over by a chariot, and her body consumed by dogs. The very same fate awaits those who, despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary, insist that a woman’s right to abort her own child is sacred in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Be blessed Brother. As we review Psalms 18 & 19 we are reassured that God always wins!”
Dr. Skip Gunn and Dr. Diane Gunn, Pastors at LifeStream Church (Hampden, Massachusetts):
“We signed this petition because we are scripturally mandated to be the voice for the voiceless. What has happened to us as a nation if the freedom we declare that we stand for is merely selfish outcry? Life is God-given and no human has the right to dismiss another. “
Pastor Zacarias Rodriguez of La Primera Iglesia De Dios, Inc. (New Bedford, Massachusetts):
“As a lover of love I regret and I’m against any decision against life. I pray that the people in charge of such a big decision understand that making the wrong one could be a fatal step to take for the future of this great country.”
