While we hang wreaths and lights, light candles and wrap gifts, the Massachusetts Legislature is on a long holiday break and the ROE Act still sits in the Joint Judiciary Committee.  The ROE Act is a set of bills designed to protect women in MA if the protections provided by Roe v. Wade suffer cuts from SCOTUS decisions.  The ROE Act is designed to remove archaic language and relax unnecessary and discriminatory restrictions to abortion access in MA. (See this post for more details, info graphics and fact sheets: The MA Roe Act, what it is, and why it is so important now -UPDATE)

We attended the hearing for the bill and a lobby day for the bill, we’ve held postcard gatherings sending postcards to MA voters designed to educate them about the bill, and more. The intensity is necessary because the Supreme Court will be taking up a case this spring that experts believe will begin the process of cutting away at ROE v. Wade protections. Consider this quote from an recent article in The Hill regarding the Louisiana abortion law being challenged via SCOTUS:

“As with other statutes targeting abortion providers and facilities, the actual legislative intent here is to mandate requirements so difficult to fulfill that the inevitable outcome is the shuttering of abortion clinics and elimination of safe and legal abortions.”

CALL TO ACTION

We’ve asked you to contact legislators in the past, but now we need reinforcements.

Our legislators are enjoying a long holiday break, but that doesn’t mean we can’t contact them and ask them, or if you’ve already contacted them, remind them, that we want them to support the ROE Act.  Most legislators have staff still working in their offices, still receive emails and for those with local offices, receive mail or hold meetings at those locations.

Please consider making a call, sending an email or asking to meet your State Representative and State Senator in their district. Find contact information for Cape Cod and Islands districts here, for other MA districts State Senators are here, State Reps are here. Not sure who your State Senator or Rep is? Check here.

Considering the time of year, you can start with a holiday card telling your legislator: “Happy Holidays – I want you to know I support the ROE Act and want you to vote for it.” Then follow up with a call, email, or meeting.  And in some cases, follow-up again for clarification. Don’t forget, these legislators work for you. You vote. Your voice matters.

Your ask is simple:

• First tell them that you are his/her constituent, you vote, and you and many others you know in the district support the ROE Act. Now, more than ever, women need these protections as Roe is being threatened by SCOTUS.
• Then ask if they will vote in support of the bill.
  • If yes – THANK THEM. Those who support the bill are being hit hard by the anti-choice groups’ very organized efforts.
  • If no – ask “WHY NOT?” This is important. We are finding many of those opposed don’t even understand the bill, they just want to appease the anti-choice lobby that includes the state GOP.
  • If they won’t commit – ask “WHY NOT?” One waffle we’ve heard is that the legislator is “waiting to see if language will be changed” or “waiting to see the language when it comes out of committee. Either way this indicates that they want the language in the bills filed to change. Ask “what specific language do you want changed from the original bill?”
• Please let us know how your state Rep and/or Senator responded: CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com

THANK YOU FOR USING YOUR VOICE!

We are going to be asking for help to get the bill out of the Judiciary Committee in late December – stay tuned or as Rachel Maddow says, “Watch this space.”

More information about the language being used by anti-choice groups to fight abortion access:

• Facts vs. Myths in today’s abortion rhetoric
• Anti-choice Movement Rhetoric, ‘infanticide’: The Latent Misogyny of Abortion Discourse

 

 

---

If you see errors or omissions in this post please contact CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com

Sign up for our newsletter.

Sign up to receive posts by email with the link in the right column.

---

Help us keep this movement growing with a donation to Cape Cod Women for Change.

DONATE HERE

Every little bit helps!

---

The ads below are part of a program that helps defray the cost of this website. We do not choose the products, services or subjects of the ads.