AG Coakley Speaks about Threats to Womens’ Reproductive Rights at Suffolk Law School

Whether voters want it to be or not, the issue of reproductive rights has been a hot-button issue in this election year. Last night, lawyers and activists gathered at a Womens’ Bar Association event at Suffolk Law School to discuss the current threats on reproductive rights.

Attorney General Martha Coakley discussed recent attacks on abortion rights, and her steadfast decision to keep “choice as a non-negotiable issue,” when she ran for United States Senate in 2010.  She mentioned the decisions she made when the Stupak Amendment created considerable debate in the Democratic party of whether or not abortion rights should be compromised to win more votes.

NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Political Director Michael Falcone surprised the audience with a revelation. Despite the common misconception of Massachusetts being a pro-choice state, it is not. The Massachusetts House legislators are split on the issue, maintaining 79 pro-life legislators.

“Every election counts,” said Mr. Falcone. He cited “anti-choice” legislation filed on Beacon Hill, from partial birth abortions with no exemptions, to sexual selection (an issue currently being discussed on a national level), and “outrageous taxpayer allowance bill, (sponsored by conservative Representative Geoff Diehl) which would allow taxpayers to choose to divert less than a penny of their taxes away from abortion services There were concerns on a federal level. “US Senator Scott Brown supported the Blunt Amendment,” said Sarah Wunsch of the ACLU.

The audience was most alarmed by the findings of NARAL Pro-Choice Policy Director Rose Mackenzie’s description of NARAL's investigation into Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Crisis Pregnancy Centers, (funded in part by “Choose Life” license plates), stress free services, but do not let women know that they are not health care facilities.” According to investigations by NARAL, CPCs claim that abortion causes breast cancer, mental health issues, and infertility. Allegedly, one woman visiting a Massachusetts CPC was told that she should not choose abortion, and that there was a 50% chance she would miscarry, so she should continue carrying the child.  NARAL claims that this is an obstruction of prenatal and abortion care.

There are currently three crisis pregnancy centers in Boston. Members of the Womens’ Bar Association and audience members debated the possibility of future signage laws or class action lawsuits, and their viability. Questions remain of whether or not these facilities should be under the legal right to say that they are not medical facilities.