Teresa Larkin, co-chair of the Pregnancy Care Alliance and executive director of Your Options Medical, a pregnancy center in the state speaks in support of pro-life pregnancy centers in Massachusetts. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA
Boston, Mass., Ju… […]
null / Credit: Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Jun 11, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
The Massachusetts state government this week announced what it billed as a “first-in-the-nation” effort to discredit — and steer pregnant women away from — pregnancy resource… […]
Attorney General of Massachusetts Andrea Joy Campbell speaks onstage during the pro-abortion EMILYs List’s 2023 Pre-Oscars Breakfast at on March 7, 2023, in Beverly Hills, California. / Credit: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for EMILYs List
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
A group of at least 17 Democratic attorneys general has formed a “reproductive rights working group” to expand abortion access and crack down on pregnancy resource centers across the country, according to reporting by The 19th, a pro-abortion news source.
The group is being led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell. She said on Thursday that the group will serve as a “united effort” to “protect access to abortion across our country.”
In an interview with The 19th, Campbell said that the group held its first meeting this week and had 17 state attorneys general in attendance. She said they plan to use member attorney general offices’ resources to advance “reproductive health care.”
“Every office has different resources and human capital,” she told The 19th. “If we come together across offices in this coalition and working group, we can make sure everyone has what we need as we take on this collective fight.”
Campbell said the group will be prioritizing the use of abortion “shield laws.” These laws provide legal protection to doctors and other entities that provide abortions or mail abortion pills to women in states where they are banned.
Chemical abortion pills now account for 63% of all U.S. abortions. The two-pill regimen works by a pregnant woman first ingesting mifepristone, which cuts off nutrient flow to her unborn baby, and then ingesting misoprostol, which expels the dead child.
Over half of the states in the U.S. have restrictions on chemical abortion pills, while some states — such as Texas, North Carolina, and Arizona — have prohibited mailing the drugs altogether.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, several states have passed so-called abortion “shield” laws. These laws vary in their extent and methods, but Massachusetts’ law is the only one to expressly protect chemical abortion providers from prosecution “regardless of the patient’s location.”
Campbell and the other attorneys general in the group would like to increase the number and scope of these laws.
She also explained that the group is aiming to increase regulation of pregnancy resource centers, like how New York Attorney General Letitia James recently did in her state.
On May 6, James sued Heartbeat International, one of the largest pregnancy center networks in the world, and 11 other New York pregnancy centers. James is claiming that Heartbeat and the other centers are endangering and misleading women by promoting “abortion reversal” pills.
In response, Heartbeat International has sued the New York attorney general and said that they are being “unfairly singled out” solely because they offer alternatives to abortion.
Besides cracking down on pregnancy centers, The 19th said, the Democratic attorneys general group also plans to help attorneys general establish “reproductive justice units” within their offices to focus on providing legal expertise regarding abortion.
New York and Massachusetts legislatures are preparing to join ten states in legalizing assisted suicide. Others are likely to follow. As Cardinal Seán O’Malley predicted in January, “There’s no doubt that the next major assaults […]
A crucifix that was vandalized at Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Oct. 25 has since been repaired. / Joe Bukuras/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA).
Boston police arrested a man Wednesday for allegedly assaulti… […]
Michael and Catherine Burke of Southampton, Massachusetts, were denied approval to become foster parents and are suing the state on the grounds that they were discriminated against because of their Catholic faith and beliefs. / Credit: Becket
D… […]
A mother and her baby who were served by one of Pregnancy Care Alliance’s member centers. / Photo courtesy of Pregnancy Care Alliance of Massachusetts
Boston, Mass., Jul 21, 2023 / 15:02 pm (CNA).
Pro-life pregnancy centers in Massachusetts have allied to enhance collaboration and share resources amid hostility from advocates for abortion.
CNA has tracked more than 60 pro-abortion attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers since May 2022 — four of which occurred in the Bay State — in which vandals have marked pro-life facilities with threatening graffiti and in some cases broken windows and burned down buildings.
The Pregnancy Care Alliance of Massachusetts was also formed in response to another threat — the rise in legislation targeting the work of pro-life pregnancy centers in the state.
Last year, ordinances were enacted in the cities of Cambridge and Somerville, located north of Boston, to issue fines of up to $300 for every instance of “deceptive” advertising by local pregnancy clinics that do not perform abortions or refer clients to those that do perform them.
Other municipalities have attempted to adopt the same ordinance. The state Legislature is currently considering a bill that contains the same language targeting “deceptive advertising” from pro-life pregnancy centers, although there is no definition of the term in it.
That bill in the state Legislature is “clearly aiming to censor protected speech,” Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCFL), told CNA on July 20.
MCFL came up with the idea for the pregnancy center alliance in 2022 to serve as a “hub” for the member pregnancy centers, Flynn said.
“The network was formed with a dual mission of building public awareness and also serving more women,” Flynn said.
One of the ways the alliance is working to share its message is through video testimonials on YouTube of women whose lives were positively impacted through the services of pro-life pregnancy centers.
A 29-year-old woman named “Crystal,” who was able to save the life of her son through the abortion pill reversal method, gave her testimony in a video dated May 17.
After regretting her visit to a Planned Parenthood, Crystal shared her experience with the women working at Abundant Hope pregnancy resource center in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
“There I met the most amazing group of women that really helped me feel confident in my decision and really supported me through the abortion pill reversal,” she said of her visit.
“I am so happy to say that thanks to them and their support, I was able to deliver my son and we had him last April, and he really is the light of my life,” Crystal said.
Flynn said that both MCFL and the pregnancy center alliance are “eager” to tell the stories of women who benefited from the centers. The collaboration means they can wage an effective social media campaign across different platforms.
“Now we work together to come up with creative campaigns, or hashtags or fundraisers, or a series of open houses that we held earlier this year,” she said.
“We’re hitting multiple audiences way more efficiently than each center could do on [its] own. And so, consequently, we hope that in a shorter amount of time, the public in Massachusetts will be better informed and more widely informed about the truth of pregnancy resource centers,” she added.
Flynn will be testifying in front of a joint committee in the state’s Legislature on July 24 in order to oppose the passage of the “deceptive advertising” bill called “An Act to protect patient privacy and prevent unfair and deceptive advertising of pregnancy-related services.”
The bill says: “No limited services pregnancy center, with the intent to perform a pregnancy-related service, shall make or disseminate before the public, or cause to be made or disseminated before the public, in any newspaper or other publication, through any advertising device, or in any other manner, including, but not limited to, through use of the internet, any statement concerning any pregnancy-related service or the provision of any pregnancy-related service that is deceptive, whether by statement or omission; and a limited services pregnancy center knows or reasonably should know to be deceptive.”
Using data taken from the member pregnancy centers in the alliance, Flynn will testify that no clinic that is part of the Pregnancy Care Alliance has received complaints related to “deceptive advertising.”
“Furthermore, Pregnancy Care Alliance centers maintain consistently high satisfaction ratings by their clients,” she said. “Thousands of women have found pregnancy resource centers via internet searches and are grateful that they did.”
In March of this year, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, signed a $389 million supplemental budget bill that included a $1 million “public awareness campaign focused on the dangers of crisis pregnancy centers and pregnancy resource centers.”
It’s unclear how the state is planning to use the funds, as CNA inquired with the governor’s office but did not receive a response. However, Flynn said that MCFL is planning to launch a counter-campaign soon called “$1 million for women.”
“The funds raised would support Pregnancy Care Alliance’s member centers and, by extension, women,” Flynn said.
“By nature of the fact of being a network, these pregnancy resource centers become stronger, and with MCFL as the hub, we can help to make them stronger and spread the word about what they do and correct misinformation in the public sphere,” Flynn said.
Several other states have initiatives bringing pro-life pregnancy centers together in collaboration, such as Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
The Pregnancy Care Alliance website can be found here.
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick arrives at Massachusetts’ Dedham District Courthouse for his arraignment, Sept. 3, 2021. / Andrew Bukuras/CNA
Dedham, Massachusetts, Jun 29, 2023 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on criminal sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts, a mental health expert hired by the state said after examining the disgraced ex-prelate.
The update in the case could lead to the dismissal of the first criminal charges against McCarrick, 92, following several accusations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians, which led to his removal from the clerical state in 2019. Criminal sexual assault charges filed against McCarrick in Wisconsin in April are still pending, as are a number of civil lawsuits.
McCarrick is charged in state court with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 relating to allegations that he sexually abused the teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
That teenager was identified by NorthJersey.com in February as James Grein, a now-64-year-old former New Jersey resident.
Grein went public with his allegations in 2018 in an interview with the New York Times, which referred to him only by his first name. He told the newspaper that McCarrick had serially sexually abused him beginning when he was 11.
According to a press release from the Norfolk District Attorney Office, the state of Massachusetts had a health expert examine McCarrick in Missouri following McCarrick’s filing of a motion in February claiming he is “legally incompetent” to stand trial, citing “significant, worsening, and irreversible dementia.”
That motion filed by McCarrick’s legal team was supported by a neurological exam of him that was conducted by Dr. David Schretlen, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
That exam was unavailable to the public, but McCarrick’s lawyers referenced the report in court documents that concluded he has a “severe cognitive disorder” and “everyday functional disability” that classifies as dementia and is most likely due to Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Thursday’s press release, the final report of the state’s exam is not available to the public, either. The health expert who conducted the exam is not identified in the release.
“The report is lengthy and is being evaluated,” the DA’s office said in the release.
The next hearing “on the available reports” in the case is scheduled for Aug. 30, which may include testimony from the state’s examiner, the press release said.
Barry Coburn, a lawyer for McCarrick, declined to comment Thursday.
Although silent through the whole case, which began in late 2021, McCarrick made comments about the charges in a phone call with NorthJersey.com in February.
McCarrick told the outlet that Grein’s testimony was “not true.”
“Do you remember James Grein?” the NorthJersey.com reporter asked McCarrick on a 10-minute phone call on Feb. 28.
“Yes. I remember him,” McCarrick responded to the reporter. Speaking of the allegations against him, McCarrick said, “It is not true.”
“The things he said about me are not true,” he added. “If you want more information about it, you can talk to my lawyers.”
The outlet reported that it attempted to reach McCarrick by phone several times before he returned the call. McCarrick told the outlet that he was currently in Missouri and that he was “feeling well, considering that I am 92 years old. It’s not like I’m 40 or 50 anymore.”
McCarrick declined to discuss the criminal case against him but answered questions about Grein “politely,” the outlet reported.
“I don’t want to speak of these things,” McCarrick said. “You can speak to my lawyer.”
Before getting off the phone, McCarrick told the outlet, “I hope you will not do a snow job on me.”
Grein told the outlet that McCarrick was a close friend of his family and would attend their gatherings. McCarrick was given the nickname “Uncle Ted,” he said.
“He sexually and spiritually abused me,” Grein said. He said that McCarrick had abused him in his home, hotels, and during confession.
null / Todd Ruth on Unsplash.
Washington D.C., May 22, 2023 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
A Massachusetts government agency is asking lawmakers to review the state’s child abuse laws to ensure they apply to parents who won’t let their children transition f… […]
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick arrives outside Massachusetts’ Dedham District Courthouse for his arraignment on Sept. 3, 2021. / Andrew Bukuras/CNA
Boston, Mass., Feb 27, 2023 / 16:57 pm (CNA).
Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 92, filed a motion in a Massachusetts court claiming he is “legally incompetent” to stand trial for sex abuse charges, citing “significant, worsening, and irreversible dementia.”
McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 relating to allegations that he sexually abused the teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
McCarrick, laicized by Pope Francis in 2019, held one of the highest offices in the Catholic Church and has been accused of serially abusing his priestly authority by sexually abusing minors and seminarians.
The state of Massachusetts told CNA that it wants an opportunity to examine McCarrick’s competency to stand trial.
McCarrick’s motion to dismiss the charges comes about a month after his legal team said a neurological exam of him was being conducted by Dr. David Schretlen, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
That exam remains unavailable to the public, as Schretlen’s final report includes “extensive confidential information” about McCarrick’s health and personal life, and would be “harmful” to McCarrick if it were available to the public, one of McCarrick’s lawyers, Daniel Marx, said in a separate court document.
However, there are certain details from the report that were available in McCarrick’s motion to dismiss the case, such as his consistently low performance scores on cognitive tests.
The document says that McCarrick performed “below expectation” on nearly two-thirds of the cognitive tests administered to him. Quoting the report, the document says that he performed “worse than 92% of reasonably healthy men of similar background and estimated premorbid on 38% of the cognitive measures.”
The report on McCarrick says that his “reported inability to retrieve memories of the alleged incident and potential witnesses” and “any exculpatory factors related to it” are consistent with his performance on the exams and testimony from those who know him well, according to the document.
Schretlen’s report concluded that McCarrick has a “severe cognitive disorder” and “everyday functional disability” that classifies as dementia and is most likely due to Alzeimer’s disease, the document says.
McCarrick is not legally competent to stand trial, the document says. It adds that his dementia is also “irreversible” and “likely to progress over time” with no expectation of improvement.
The document says that although McCarrick “remains intelligent and articulate,” he is unable to stand trial because his dementia prevents him from “meaningfully consulting with counsel and effectively participating in his own defense.”
It would be a violation of McCarrick’s 14th Amendment right in the Constitution and Article XII of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights if he were to stand trial with his dementia, his lawyers maintain in the court document.
David Traub, director of communications for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, told CNA in an email Monday that “the Commonwealth will hire its own expert to assess competency.”
Traub said that an update court hearing in Dedham District Court on the state’s examination of McCarrick is set for April 20.
McCarrick’s lawyer Barry Coburn declined comment. Marx, his other lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment.
McCarrick hasn’t been seen publicly since his arraignment in Dedham on Sept. 3, 2021, when he pleaded not guilty to all three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14.
He appeared in frail condition that day, arriving at the courthouse wearing a mask and hunched over a walker. He made no comment either inside or outside the courthouse, where a demonstrator yelled, “Shame on you!” as McCarrick slowly walked past reporters and photographers alongside one of his attorneys.
The document says that McCarrick continues to maintain his innocence on all charges.
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