‘Infanticide’ politics: Republican ads target local ROE Act supporters

April 16-- Apr. 16--As Beacon Hill debates a new abortion rights bill commonly called "the ROE Act," the Massachusetts Republican Party is pulling no punches with an ad campaign accusing its supporters -- including North Andover's representatives -- of endorsing "infanticide."

"Please sign our petition and ask Representative Minicucci to remove her name from the Infanticide Bill," a sponsored social media ad reads, with a photo of state Rep. Christina Minicucci, D-North Andover, stamped with "REP. MINICUCCI SUPPORTS INFANTICIDE" in large white and red text.

A similar sponsored ad was released with a photo of Rep. Tram Nguyen, D-Andover, accusing her of the same.

"The decision of if, when, and how to have a child is deeply personal," Nguyen posted on Twitter earlier this month. "I firmly believe that a woman and her family must make the decision that is right for them and that politicians should not interfere."

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons -- who previously served as North Andover's state representative for the Essex 18th district before losing his seat to Nguyen last November -- has seized on the ROE Act, calling it a "radical infanticide bill" and targeting its legislative supporters with that label.

"Under the radical infanticide bill, absolutely nothing would be done to protect or even comfort a baby who survives a late-term abortion," Lyons said in a statement after the House passed its version. "In addition, the extreme infanticide bill removes all practical limitations on aborting unborn babies."

Republican state Rep. Donald Wong, R-Saugus, has also signed on to support the ROE Act, but no "Infanticide" ads have been released against him.

What is the ROE Act?

Commonly referred to as the ROE Act, the House version -- "An Act removing obstacles and expanding access to women's reproductive health" -- was introduced in January by representatives Patricia Haddad, D-Somerset, and Jay Livingstone, D-Boston, to expand access to abortion.

The bill came about in reaction to President Donald Trump's pledge to have Roe v. Wade overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, to which he has added two conservative justices since taking office, as well as the Trump administration's plan to keep Title X funds from clinics that provide abortions or abortion referrals.

The Roe Act seeks to replace millions of dollars to cover those Title X funding losses and allow abortions after 24 weeks in certain situations. State law currently allows late-term abortions if the mother's life is at risk, but the new bill would allow it for mental health as well as fatal fetal abnormalities.

The Roe Act would also remove the parental consent requirement for anyone seeking an abortion.

A Senate version of this bill is making its way through that chamber.

Gov. Charlie Baker has said that while he supports abortion access, he may oppose the Roe Act because he is against late-term abortions.

All politics is local

The battle has spilled downward to the local level, too. On April 13, after North Andover Selectman Phil DeCologero posted on Facebook in support of a North Andover resident's Planned Parenthood fundraiser (in which a local woman is raising money for donations to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Lyons' name), the North Andover GOP posted on its Facebook page that North Andover Selectman Phil DeCologero "is raising money to support infanticide."

"He seems pretty proud of himself," the North Andover GOP post reads.

DeCologero did not comment for this story. But the North Andover woman who started that fundraiser, Jenifer Fresen -- who has volunteered for Planned Parenthood in the past -- did.

"To call abortion late in pregnancy 'infanticide' is completely medically inaccurate, which is totally unsurprising, because Jim Lyons does not deal in facts," Fresen said. "So I'm raising money for an organization that does."

Fresen pointed to the late-term abortion aspect of the new bill, noting that pregnancy termination is an option used by women who planned to have their babies but discovered late in pregnancy that complications would endanger their health or make their fetus unable to sustain life once born.

"Anyone who has known someone who has gone through something like this understands that these are incredibly complicated, private decisions and the idea that Jim Lyons feels like he should be able to insert himself insert himself into those scenarios that he has no understanding of, from either a medical perspective or even from those people's individual beliefs, which come into play when they make those decisions, is just wrong," Fresen said.

As of Monday, Fresen's fundraiser had raised about $1,500.

North Andover Republican Town Committee Chair C.J. Gangi said his group's -- and the state GOP's -- targeting of ROE Act proponents centers on parts of the bill that allow doctors to not try to help babies that survive abortions, and that the House and Senate bills are a "radical departure" from existing state law.

"It would repeal a state law that requires life-saving equipment be in a room where the abortion is taking place, should a child be born alive. It also removes a requirement that all post-13-week abortions be conducted in hospitals and it also repeals the current law that says that for a child born alive during an abortion, all reasonable steps need to be taken to preserve the life of the baby," Gangi said.

"So you've got a child born alive in an abortion. This law would make it legal for a doctor, or whoever is performing this abortion, to deny care to a child born alive," Gangi continued. "So if that's not the definition of infanticide, I don't know what is."

Gangi pointed to a New England Journal of Medicine study showing that a child born at 24 weeks given life-saving care has a 50 percent chance of survival.

"At 25 weeks, that goes up to 72 percent," Gangi said.

Navigating gray areas

But what about situations in which a late-term fetus is deemed nonviable outside due to medical abnormalities? Gangi cited a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute that he said "admitted that women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal abnormality or life endangerment."

That study -- which examined 272 women who had undergone abortion after 20 weeks' or later gestation and 169 women who underwent first-trimester abortions from 2008 to 2010 -- focused on reasons for delay in abortion (late pregnancy discovery, lack of abortion access, lack of money to pay for abortion, etc.) and did not include women who sought abortions due to medical developments discovered late in pregnancy.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that in 2015, more than 90 percent of abortions are performed in the first trimester, and 1.4 percent are performed after 20 weeks. It does not, however, list statistics for late-term abortions sought because of medical risks or fetal abnormalities.

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