By Caroline Colarusso
Two weeks ago, and in lighting speed the Massachusetts Legislature rushed to ensure funding for clinics that provide counseling for and provide actual abortions to the tune of $8 million of your tax dollars. This “appropriation” of taxpayer dollars is a statement of support for politically connected influential groups like Planned Parenthood. This emergency funding was conveniently voted on the day before the “Unplanned Movie” hit theaters nationwide because the politically connected abortion industry is petrified that the true story of a former top executive of Planned Parenthood may actually educate voters and taxpayers as to what really happened behind the scenes at her clinic.
In sharp contrast, the Legislature has spent the last 10 years talking about fixing the educational funding formula and failed to do so. They have also supported higher taxes in localities, operational overrides in the communities they serve, the meals tax in localities that they represent so as to take the burden off their shoulders for ignoring the educational funding formula, and much more. In 2014 they tried to automatically raise your gasoline tax every year because they claim they have no money for roads or bridges ignoring the fact that Massachusetts spends $675,939 per state-controlled mile for road maintenance – more than four times the national average. They now are supporting a graduated income tax because they say it will fix the educational funding formula. Yet, they “found” an extra $8 million dollars to fund abortion providers. Perhaps the next most blatant use of taxpayer dollars was when they voted for the scandalous $18 million dollars of pay raises on the backs of the taxpayers.
Not by chance these are the same slick politicians who are supporting the ROE Act which is also favored by Planned Parenthood. The ROE Act legalizes abortion through 9 months of pregnancy, allows for babies born alive after abortions to die without medical assistance, allows for abortions outside of hospitals performed by non-physicians, and eliminates all parental consent notification laws so that your daughter can have an abortion at any age without you ever knowing. The ROE Act will financially benefit Planned Parenthood.
State Senator Jason Lewis (D-Winchester), State Rep. Paul Brodeur (D-Melrose) and State Rep. Michael Day (D-Stoneham) and State Rep. Donald Wong (R- Saugus/Wakefield) all voted to appropriate the $8 million and are all co-sponsors of the ROE Act. Lewis, Brodeur and Day have been endorsed by Planned Parenthood. There are ways to support family planning clinics without using tax dollars to fund abortion, but that would not allow the favored political partnerships to continue. Seventy-one (71%) percent of the population opposes third trimester abortions according to a recent Marist poll. Many are concerned that their tax dollars will be paying for newly introduced late term abortion or other aspects of the ROE Act. Our legislators disregard a person’s conscience when they use tax dollars to promote political payoffs to the abortion industry.
I urge everyone to go out and see the movie “Unplanned,” playing in Somerville and Burlington. It’s the story of a former Clinic Director of a Planned Parenthood telling her story. This movie is being blacked out by the liberal media, and social media sites are banning the official movie trailer to keep it from a wider audience. It is rated R because abortion is violent so children must be accompanied by parents. It re-humanizes unborn babies instead of dehumanizing them. Take your family members to see this movie; it changes hearts and minds and is eye opening. If you know a woman that needs help with an unplanned pregnancy, finding a sheltering home, or post abortive counseling, a list of organizations in Massachusetts can be found at masscitizensforlife.org.