Pro-Life Advocates Defeat Massachusetts Measure That Targeted Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Massachusetts pro-life advocates celebrated a victory for life Wednesday after the Easthampton City Council rejected an ordinance targeting pregnancy resource centers.

The council failed to override Mayor Nicole LaChapelle’s veto of the pro-abortion ordinance amid a wave of pro-life opposition.

First introduced in 2022, the proposed ordinance could have censored the work of pro-life organizations, referred to as “limited-service pregnancy centers,” in the city. Council members amended the legislation, but one version accused pro-life centers of engaging in “deceptive” practices, according to Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

“This was a tremendous team effort by the pro-life community both in action and prayers,” MCFL board member Judy Cross said in a statement after the vote.

Pro-life advocates raised concerns about the proposed ordinance violating pro-lifers’ rights, and the threat of an expensive lawsuit prompted the mayor to veto it in July, according to the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, which also opposed the measure.

Initially, the Easthampton council passed the ordinance in a 6-1 vote July 5 with one member abstaining. On Wednesday, however, the council voted 5-3 to override the mayor’s veto, falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority required.

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“The measure, which embraced the language of the abortion industry by deriding pro-life centers … promoted the lie that they are engaged in widespread deceptive advertising, and would have facilitated the legal and bureaucratic harassment of such centers by encouraging Easthampton residents to file consumer complaints against them,” the Catholic Action League explained.

Its executive director, C. J. Doyle, said pregnancy centers exist to offer pregnant women compassionate alternatives to abortion, but they are a threat to the abortion industry.

“This entire movement to target, demonize and restrict crisis pregnancy centers using contrived and unfounded claims of deception has its origins in an abortion industry, which has a compelling financial interest in suppressing its opposition,” Doyle said.

In a statement Thursday, Massachusetts Citizens for Life leaders thanked everyone who contacted the council to oppose the ordinance, saying their efforts made a huge impact.

“We are thrilled to tell you about a pro-life WIN in Easthampton last night,” the pro-life organization told supporters in an email. “… The proposed ordinance died last night as a result of this vote – and PRCs and other life-affirming organizations, like Bethlehem House, are strengthened to continue their critical community work.”

Pregnancy resource centers have become a target of attacks across the United States, from arson and vandalism, to legislation, to media hit pieces and slanderous pro-abortion campaigns. Late last month, pregnancy resource centers in Illinois sued their state after the legislature passed a law that could shut down pro-life charities that refuse to recommend elective abortions.

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