Press Release: MCFL Calls on State to Close Four Facilities Doing Illegal Abortions

Charlestown, April 9, 2014            For Immediate Release        Contact Anne Fox, 617-242-4199     Massachusetts Citizens for Life sent a letter to Secretary John Polanowicz, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, on March 31, 2014 calling on the state to close four abortion facilities because of the illegal abortions performed in those facilities.   The law in Massachusetts mandates that after the eighteenth week of pregnancy an abortion must be performed in a hospital licensed to provide medical/surgical services. None of these facilities is a hospital. Accordingly, their practice of performing abortions "up to 20 weeks" (Four Women, Attleboro; Merrimack Valley Women's Health, Haverhill; North Shore Women's Health, Lynn;  and Metro West Women's Health, Natick) and "up to 23 weeks" (Women's Health Services, Brookline) is illegal.   In her letter, Anne Fox, President, Mass. Citizens for Life, stated, "Consider the outcry which would occur if a store advertised that it sells cigarettes to 10-year olds. These clinics' flagrant violations of Massachusetts law pose an imminent threat to the safety and proper health care of pregnant women who are clinic patients... To safeguard the health and safety of pregnant women using the services of these clinics I urge you to exercise your authority under 105 CMR 140.130 to suspend the licenses or the parts of licenses covering abortion services in these facilities and end the illegal practice of abortion beyond the eighteenth week of pregnancy."   As of today, Mass. Citizens has not heard from Secretary Polanowicz.  A copy of the letter is available on the organization's website, org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/scan-letter-to-public-health0001.pdf   Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the oldest and largest right to life organization in the state, has been working for forty-one years to protect life at all stages of development.