Massachusetts Family Institute is working hard to inform, educate, and motivate Bay Staters to effectively engage the culture. We decipher what is happening in government, then strive to inform and equip you to make your voice heard on the social issues impacting our families and our shared values. We know from years of experience that when you speak whether by email, letter, or a phone message — elected officials listen.
In this Action Center, we offer ways you can easily make your voice heard. Please get involved through the action items below!
HB4672/SB947 “An Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality,” would enshrine “intent-based parenting” in Massachusetts law, making it much easier for parents with no biological connection to a child to acquire that child through surrogacy or sperm or egg donation. These methods can have devastating consequences for children who are intentionally separated from their mother, father, or both.
We oppose these bills for these reasons:
These bills would deprive children of their right to know their biological mother and/or father. Surrogacy and donor conception turn children into a commodity that can be bought and sold rather than human beings with infinite worth, and also hurt mothers and fathers. Many who have sold their genetic material or rented their wombs regret not knowing and raising their children. Surrogacy in particular, introduces serious moral and legal issues, sometimes leading to the exploitation of impoverished mothers who feel pressured to participate.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
The House voted on and unanimously approved HB4672 on Wednesday, June 12th. We do not yet know whether the companion Senate bill will be brought up for a vote.
Please contact your state Senators to tell them you oppose these bills. Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
Hidden in HB58/SB24, the latest appropriations bill is a million-dollar smear campaign against pro-life pregnancy resource centers.
We opposed this measure for these reasons:
This bill uses tax dollars to lie about pregnancy resource centers and to promote Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion.
Read our brief to learn more.
Disappointingly, the MA legislature has once again passed this bill. Governor Healey signed the Pregnancy Resource Center Smear Campaign on March 29th, 2023. Read the news story here.
HB377/SB174 aims to censor the speech of pro-life pregnancy resource centers, making it more difficult for them to do their vital work for women and babies.
We oppose this bill for these reasons:
If passed this bill would violate the First Amendment free speech rights of pregnancy resource centers and benefit Big Abortion at the expense of vulnerable mothers.
Read our brief to learn more.
Update
Thank you for contacting your legislators to oppose this discriminatory and unconstitutional bill. The Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure sent this bill to study, which means that it is likely dead for this session.
HB1599/SB1114 would eliminate nearly all restrictions on abortion in Massachusetts, would make an abortion more dangerous for women, would allow girls of any age to obtain abortions without parental consent, and more.
We oppose this bill for these reasons:
If passed this bill would undermine parental rights, eliminate conscientious objections to performing abortions and safety regulations for dangerous late-term abortions, and target pregnancy resource centers.
A hearing for this bill was held on November 21st, 2023, at the State House in Boston. Thank you to those who attended and provided testimony opposing this dangerous bill.
The Radical Abortion Expansion bill is in committee. There has been an extension order filed to 4/30/24 on the House version of the bill. This bill is still active.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
Please contact your legislators to tell them you oppose this bill. Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
The MA legislature is considering HB544/SB2686 which would mandate a controversial sex education framework for public schools across the state. Currently, local schools can decide for themselves what and when to teach the children in their community about sex, based on the unique needs of their student populations and the desires of their parents. This would eliminate that right.
We oppose this bill for these reasons:
This bill gives complete control over local sex education curricula to an unelected bureaucracy at the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The type of curricula approved by DESE includes graphic sexual content and conflicts with many families’ deeply held beliefs regarding sexuality and gender.
Additionally, the passage of this bill would eliminate the right for the general public to view the sex ed curricula taught in their community resulting in less transparency for taxpayers.
Visit the sex ed page of our website to learn more about the kind of sex ed content that would be mandated.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
The Senate passed a version of the Sex Ed Mandate on Thursday, February 29th. But the fight is not over! This bill now moves to the House.
Please email or call your MA legislator and ask them to oppose the controversial and harmful Sex Ed Mandate.
Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
The MA legislature is considering HB587/HB463 which would require school districts to adopt an opt-in policy for students to participate in human sexual education. This means that before a student would be allowed to participate in sex education lessons, the district would be required to secure written permission from the parent or guardian consenting to their child’s participation.
We support this bill for this reason:
Currently, MA students are automatically required to participate in sex education lessons unless their parent or guardian opts them out. This policy increases the likelihood of student participation, potentially against their parents’ or guardians’ wishes since busy parents or guardians may miss the notification of upcoming sex education lessons and/or forget to submit a letter to remove their child from these lessons.
This proposed opt-in rule respects parents and parental rights and ensures that only students whose parents or guardians desire them to participate in sex education lessons at school receive instruction in human sexuality and sexuality issues.
Read our brief to learn more.
Update
Thank you for contacting your legislators to support this bill. Unfortunately, The Opt-In for Sex Ed had been sent out of committee to study, which means it will likely not advance further.
In 2012, the voters of our Commonwealth rejected physician-assisted suicide in a state-wide referendum. In 2022, the MA Supreme Court refused to find a right to assisted suicide in our Constitution. Nevertheless, the pro-suicide lobby is again pushing HB2246/SB1331, “An Act relative to end of life options,” to legalize assisted suicide in Massachusetts.
We oppose this bill for these reasons:
Physician-assisted suicide invites abuse and creates a slippery slope toward devaluing life. Devaluing life for some means devaluing life for all. Physician-assisted suicide is never necessary and always ends a unique and valuable human life.
A hearing for this bill was held on October 20th at the State House in Boston. Thank you to those who attended and provided testimony opposing this harmful bill.
The Physician Assisted Suicide bill has been reported favorably out of committee. This bill is still active.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
Please contact your legislators to tell them you oppose this bill. Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
HB604 would delete the religious exemption for K-12th grade students from the current vaccine law, completely eliminating the exemption for students at both public and private schools. This exemption has been part of the MA vaccine statute for decades.
SB1391 is identical to HB604 but is titled, “An Act relative to vaccines and preventing future disease outbreaks.” It too would eliminate the religious exemption.
HB2151/SB1458 would keep the exemption but would require all exemption requests to go through the MA Department of Public Health.
We oppose these bills for these reasons:
They would eliminate religious exemptions, result in decreased accountability and increased government bureaucracy, shame schools and parents, and allow minors to consent to vaccination without their parent or guardian’s consent or knowledge.
A hearing for these bills was held on July 19th, 2023, at the State House in Boston.
The proposed School Vaccine Bills are currently in committee. There has been an extension order filed to 12/31/24 on HB2151. These bills are still active.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
Please contact your legislators to tell them you oppose these bills. Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
HB4229/SB2528 would make it near impossible to remove porn from K-12 public school libraries and give woke activist school librarians more power.
We oppose these bills for these reasons:
They would prevent a school committee from removing an explicit book from a library and would require elected school officials to use a subjectively worded standard that sets no real limit on what material can be in school libraries. These bills would also force a one-size-fits-all policy created by the State onto all school districts in Massachusetts and give almost unlimited discretion to school librarians to decide which books are age-appropriate for students. Additionally, these bills would give people a right to sue their school if they disagree with a school’s decision to remove an explicit book. This shocking provision shows just how radical these bills are.
A hearing for these bills was held on January 10th, 2024 at the State House in Boston. Thank you to those who provided testimony opposing these radical and harmful bills.
The Pornographic Schoolbook Bills are currently in committee. There has been an extension order filed to 6/1/24 on the House and Senate versions of this bill. This bill is still active.
Read our brief to learn more.
Action Alert
Please contact your legislators to tell them you oppose these bills. Click here to send them an email or for a phone script to call them!
