By Myrna Maloney Flynn, President, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Vice Chair, Compassionate Care Coalition
When it seems impossible to reach and serve vulnerable, hurting women, remember that truth paves the road of possibility.
If you ever think you’re powerless when it comes to protecting the unborn, think again.
When the abortion industry, with its seemingly bottomless well of money, inexhaustible justifications and ever-changing euphemisms, appears to hijack common sense and dupe Massachusetts politicians, the media and, most importantly, mothers in need, consider the unlikely heroes who just regained control of a doomed flight.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCFL) joined the Compassionate Care Coalition alongside Massachusetts Family Action, Massachusetts Family Institute, Democrats for Life of America, and Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance to launch a citizen-led veto referendum, the constitutional process that lets voters suspend a new law and decide its fate.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life applauds the hundreds of volunteers whose efforts over the last four weeks resulted in a successful signature drive to suspend and repeal Massachusetts’ late-term abortion law.
It was a 5-second principled pitch, repeated tens of thousands of times by grassroots voices, that moved as many Massachusetts voters to sign the petition to repeal Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2026 and restore protections for viable infants and frightened women.
So during our Truth About Choice memorial at the State House Thursday afternoon, we are proud to celebrate the success of the Compassionate Care Coalition’s statewide veto referendum petition, which, as of this writing, has collected 97,276 certified signatures, well above the 49,716 required.
Signatures are still being counted.
Once the Secretary of the Commonwealth certifies the petition, the state’s new late-term abortion law will be suspended and its repeal will go before voters in November 2028.
Chapter 188, House Bill 5595, “An Act Prioritizing Patient Access to Care,” was signed by Governor Maura Healey on August 10, 2026. The new law allows elective abortion up to birth on healthy women and healthy, viable infants. It also removes the longstanding safeguard requiring women to undergo complex, potentially dangerous, late-term abortions in hospitals.
Under the new law, the Department of Public Health will no longer be required to report late-term abortion data, even though expensive abortions after 24 weeks rose from 41 in 2022 to 84 in 2023 and 99 in 2024.
Massachusetts taxpayers fund abortions through the state’s Medicaid program.
The state’s four Roman Catholic bishops endorsed the effort, and MCFL is deeply grateful for their leadership and for the parishes that hosted signature gathering. Protestant churches across the Commonwealth also took part.
Coalition team members and volunteers didn’t set out to “retaliate” or demonstrate their distaste for certain elected officials. They stepped in to help because they know right from wrong.
Each person involved wanted to ensure legal protection for pain-capable unborn babies. They wanted to keep women safe and make sure they understand that resources across the state offer prudent, life-affirming options along with abundant compassion, not a profit motive, during heart wrenching pregnancy challenges.
Speakers at Thursday’s State House gathering courageously share personal stories about fear and suffering experienced during pregnancy. The common thread: each found determined love and support from family, doctors and community that provided them strength to reject the violence of abortion and choose life for their baby, resulting in an authentic freedom and contagious, lifelong, culture-changing joy.
Freedom and joy naturally come from any struggle that prioritizes the good of another. Coalition volunteers knew this, prompting many to log 18-hour days consistently over the last four weeks as they explained Governor Healey’s senseless action to, and easily convinced, complete strangers.
We urge Governor Healey to respect the will of the people and not attach an emergency preamble to Chapter 188.
A preamble would put her full-term abortion law into effect and block its suspension until the 2028 vote.
“The people of Massachusetts did not ask for abortion through all nine months, and in a matter of weeks they made that clear,” said Sam Miele, Coalition chairman and director of Massachusetts Family Action. “We are grateful to every volunteer, pastor and parish staffer who carried a clipboard. Because of them, voters will have the final say.”
The Compassionate Care Coalition’s work does not conclude today but pivots in pursuit of the next goal: educating voters ahead of 2028.
Learn more and get involved at Repeal188.com.
Amidst MCFL’s donor-supported Truth About Choice display, which represents all 49,450 babies who lost their lives to Massachusetts abortions in 2024, we stand alongside our Coalition partners, ready for the work ahead.
Together, with your ongoing support, we will
*correct the grave misconception that “reproductive healthcare” includes ending the life of a viable unborn child.
*challenge the idea that “incompatible with life” justifies eliminating the right to life.
*rewrite the abortion industry’s narrative so women realize they are not victims but victorious.*
*remind every voter that they bear a responsibility to do the hard work of loving women in crisis by walking through emotional pain with them instead of pointing to the quickest exit.
The next two years provide your opportunity to help MCFL build real and lasting support for our women in need, not only through the referendum effort but by helping us advance each of our programs that educate, mobilize and acknowledge the value of every human life.
I invite you to join us as we continue to serve the good of the other.
For LIFE,
Myrna
*Credit for this wording goes to a courageous western Massachusetts woman who recently told me her story of heartbreaking loss, humble acceptance and strength that resulted.