State launches new 'smear' campaign against pregnancy help centers
A pro-life pregnancy center in Bowling Green, Ohio, was vandalized Saturday. (@FoxNews / Twitter screen shot)
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]
By Bridget Sielicki
Live Action News
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll have launched what they are calling a “first-in-the-nation public education campaign” to highlight the so-called “dangers” of pregnancy resource centers (PRCs). In reality, the initiative is a smear campaign against organizations that provide a lifeline to expectant mothers and young families who need resources and help, all because those centers do not promote abortion.
PRCs have already come under intense scrutiny in Massachusetts since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Pro-abortion pundits, like Healy, vilify the centers because they often enable abortion-minded women to keep their babies. In 2022, when Healy was the state’s attorney general, she issued an advisory warning people against visiting the facilities. In March 2023, the state House approved the use of $1 million in taxpayer funds to campaign against PRCs.
Now, Healy and Driscoll have decided to run a series of campaign attack ads in which they claim that PRCs prevent women from making an “informed choice” when it comes time to decide whether or not to abort.
“The campaign is designed to help people understand their full range of options, directing them to mass.gov/GetTrustedCare wit
Ironically, though the release states that the initiative’s aim is to provide unbiased information, the very next paragraph includes a statement from Healy in which she admits her agenda is expanding access to abortion.
“In Massachusetts, we are committed to protecting and expanding access to safe and legal abortion,” Healy said (emphasis added). “That includes protecting patients from the deceptive and dangerous tactics that anti-abortion centers often use to stop people from accessing comprehensive reproductive services. This campaign is an important way to provide accurate information so residents can make informed decisions about reproductive care that are right for them.”
Pregnancy resource centers offer a variety of services, including private medical consultation, STD testing, pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, and maternity and baby items. The centers also refer women for medical support, financial help, maternity housing, child care, prenatal care, and counseling. A report released in 2022 revealed that these centers saved over 800,000 lives in just five years.
Pregnancy Care Alliance of Massachusetts gave a statement to Catholic News Agency following the administration’s announcement.
“The women served by pregnancy resource centers overwhelmingly report a positive experience,” the statement said. “Yet the Healey administration and other politicians in the state are furthering their extreme abortion agenda by using a taxpayer-funded campaign to discredit our centers.”
The alliance said the “politically motivated campaign will negatively impact women the most, specifically the many women who want to parent and rely on the free assistance we provide.”
The Massachusetts Family Institute also spoke against what it is calling a “new tactic” to silence PRCs.
“Over the past two years, pro-abortion activists have failed to silence charitable pro-life pregnancy resource centers through censorship laws at the local and state levels. But turning to a new tactic, these activists have partnered with the State to launch a public smear campaign against the centers,” staff attorney Sam Whiting said in a statement to the News Service.
“It is scandalous that the State would misuse a million dollars in taxpayer funds to defame these charities, which provide critical help to pregnant women and save vulnerable babies. We hope that the State’s campaign will have the opposite of its intended effect and that more women than ever before will reach out to their local pregnancy resource center for support.”
[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Live Action News.]
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