Legislators in the Massachusetts House on March 1 approved the use of $1 million dollars in taxpayer funding to publicly campaign against pregnancy resource centers (PRCs). According to the Boston Globe, the initiative is identical to one vetoed by former Governor Charlie Baker in November.
The Globe reports that the funding would be used to “educate” the public that PRCs “do not offer comprehensive medical care” — meaning they neither encourage nor refer for abortion.
Though Baker vetoed the bill’s previous iteration, there is renewed hope among abortion enthusiasts that the state’s current governor, Maura Healey, will take a different stance. In her previous role as attorney general, Healey cemented her anti-PRC position with an inflammatory warning against the centers placed on the state’s website.
Though PRCs have been the target of many abortion activists since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, particularly in Massachusetts, they provide countless free resources and help to pregnant women and families, including diapers and wipes, clothing, baby food, formula, furniture, car seats, and much more. Many also refer women for medical services, financial help, state housing, professional counseling, child care, and prenatal care, and they even offer post-abortive support for women.
A report released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that PRCs served nearly two million people in 2019. Live Action News has highlighted many mothers who have spoken about the invaluable resource that these centers have been. And a January Knights of Columbus-Marist poll revealed that a whopping 91 percent of Americans support the existence of these centers.
Despite the overwhelming and undeniable good they do, pro-abortion lawmakers now want to shut these centers down, simply because they help women to keep their babies, rather than kill them. If the issue were really about concern for deceptive practices, lawmakers would seek to investigate the questionable operations of abortion centers — but they have not.
Teresa Larkin, a spokesperson for the Pregnancy Care Alliance, blasted the proposed budget provision in a statement to The Globe. “The proposed amendment to tell the public about the ‘dangers’ of crisis pregnancy centers appears to be the same taxpayer-funded smear campaign legislators introduced last year and that Governor Baker ultimately vetoed,” she said. “He did so because even he – a self-described supporter of abortion rights – recognized that women would suffer without pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) to provide real choice, serving them when they’re most in need.”
