Mary Markos: ROE Act hearing, protests roil Beacon Hill

Jun. 18--Lawmakers faced highly charged language and rival demonstrations on Beacon Hill Monday in the fierce debate over the controversial bill known as the ROE Act to expand abortion rights, as key elected officials voiced reservations.

Lawmakers, advocates, clergy, doctors, women who have had abortions and representatives from various organizations testified in front of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary about two bills that would remove a requirement for women under age 18 to get permission from a parent or judge to get an abortion and expand access after 24 weeks in cases of fatal fetal anomalies.

Andrew Beckwith, of the Massachusetts Family Institute, argued that regardless of one's stance on abortion itself, it is an "indisputable scientific fact" that after 24 weeks the fetus is a "viable human child," and that this bill allows doctors to choose not to "save the life of this baby."

"That has nothing to do with a woman's right to choose or with 'health care.' It is simply barbaric," Beckwith said. "It is why this legislation has been called by many 'infanticide.'"

Lawmakers who filed the House and Senate versions of bill, Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler and Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, denounced charges of infanticide from anti-abortion activists.

"Much has been said about this bill that I care not to repeat," Chandler said. "All of these statements -- all of these audacious claims about this legislation -- are blatantly false; they are intentionally misrepresentative; they are incredibly offensive; make no mistake about it, they are lies."

"There is no other way but to say they're untrue. They're totally untrue," Haddad said. "Every pregnancy that you are told the fetus cannot live outside the womb is a wanted pregnancy, so when the accusations are that we, as the supporters of this bill, believe that we would commit infanticide is absolutely outrageous."

Meanwhile, over a hundred anti-abortion protesters stood on the steps of the State House wearing crosses, carrying bibles and playing recordings of a crying baby as tourists passed by in trolleys and Duck Boats. They held signs that read "Remember The Unborn" and "Defund Planned Parenthood" while chanting "Amen" and "Support Support, Don't Abort."

House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka told reporters that they are taking a wait-and-see approach on the committee's recommendation of the bill. Gov. Charlie Baker said he is a "big believer" in supporting women's access to reproductive rights, but questioned the section that would remove the consent restriction.

"I do have concerns about eliminating the parental notification requirement that currently exists in state law," Baker said. "The language here matters a lot, which is why this conversation is important."

Attorney General Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan testified in support of the ROE Act Monday as well.

"No Massachusetts woman, faced with the devastating situation of needing to end a pregnancy because of a serious medical complication, should be forced to travel across the country to access health care," Healey said. "That shouldn't happen in Massachusetts."

"Politicians in Congress and state houses across the country -- not many of them women, I will add -- are hellbent on overturning Roe v. Wade," Trahan said. "Let's not miss our chance to lead the nation when it comes to protecting women's access to care at this critical moment where nationally, women's reproductive freedoms are at risk."

Myrna Maloney Flynn, vice president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said, "it's clear the authors of these bills wrote them as a backlash," to President Trump and his Supreme Court nominations.

"The bills' supporters assert that restrictive abortion laws passed elsewhere also justify passing this deeply flawed bill that seeks to 'expand access,'" Flynn said, "Abortion is accessible."

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