Last week the Healey-Driscoll administration launched a dishonest and malicious smear campaign defaming charitable pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) that help women and children in need. The administration claims that the first-in-the-nation “public-education campaign” is “designed to help people understand their full range of options.” But ever since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, PRCs have been under constant attack on state and municipal levels in MA, and for one reason only – they do not offer abortion. If the Healey-Driscoll administration was really interested in offering women the choices they deserve, they would stop their unfair and biased targeting of pro-life centers that support women who find themselves in difficult circumstances.
The smear campaign will appear on social media platforms, billboards, radio, and transit. It was funded by $1 million of taxpayer money as part of the FY2023 supplemental budget passed by the legislature in March of last year. Abortion activists with the Reproductive Equity Now Foundation, a private 501(c)(3) organization, worked together with the Department of Public Health to launch the campaign.
An MFI supporter sent us a picture of one of the campaign billboards spotted in Holyoke.
Holyoke is one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts, with a poverty rate of 26%, more than 2.5 times the State median of 10%. PRCs are known for providing free resources to mothers and their babies, including diapers, formula, baby clothes, and nursery equipment. Abortion providers do not offer any of these things. Why would the State lie to vulnerable women about what PRCs offer, and try to trick them into steering clear of the very centers that can provide the resources that they struggle to afford?
If the State wanted to help women in Holyoke and statewide who are struggling with financial challenges, they would be advertising on behalf of PRCs, not telling people to avoid them. And if the State wanted to offer women real options they won’t later regret, they would champion the work of PRCs who help mothers choose life for their babies.
MFI has successfully defended PRCs from these vicious attacks in the past and we will continue to speak out to protect vulnerable women and babies in the Commonwealth. Listen, beginning at minute 8:56 to MFI staff attorney call out the State for its scandalous campaign against PRCs on the Howie Carr Show.
MFI has reached out to our national allies and is considering all legal options to push back against this latest abominable action by the State. We’ll keep you posted on further developments.
In the meantime, 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 PRC for support.
Help us continue to stand for life and in support of the good work of PRCs with a generous donation today!