[two_third]
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We Hear You: Sex Ed, Student Loans, and Government Spending
The Daily Signal / Ken McIntyre / Monday, January 20, 2020
Dear Daily Signal: As one of the principal organizers of the defeat of Washington state’s “comprehensive sexual health education bill” in 2018, I am writing to thank you for Michael King’s commentary about Massachusetts, “In a Blue State, Parents Beat Planned Parenthood’s Sex Ed Push.”
This “comprehensive” sex ed bill will be up again in Washington (backed by Planned Parenthood and our state superintendent of education), so I appreciate The Daily Signal’s covering the efforts in Massachusetts.
I founded the Washington Women’s Network (now called the Network-WA), a women’s advocacy organization focused on defeating Planned Parenthood’s legislative initiatives (and others threatening conscience rights and the safety of women and children).
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Sex-ed bill heads to House; meanwhile, local fights continue
Commonwealth Magazine / Sarah Betancourt / Thursday, January 17, 2020
THE SENATE PASSED a sex-ed bill on Thursday with more Republican support than in the past, but it’s heading to the House where Speaker Bob DeLeo has not yet committed to taking it up…
…Organizations like the Massachusetts Family Institute and Mass GOP oppose any statewide legislation related to sex-ed, with the Family Institute’s president, Andrew Beckwith, saying it takes away control from school districts, and promotes contraception that some parents might deem inappropriate.
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State Senate approves comprehensive sex ed bill
Gloucester Daily Times / Steve LeBlanc / Thursday, January 17, 2020
The Massachusetts Senate approved a bill Thursday that would require school districts that offer a comprehensive sex education curriculum rely on “medically accurate, age-appropriate” information…
…Critics say the bill introduces explicit information about sex to students who may be too young.
Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, faulted the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, saying it is giving Planned Parenthood more influence over what children are being taught about sex than their parents.
“Senators voting for this bill apparently want to instruct 12-year-olds on the finer points of anal sex,” Beckwith said. “The proper term for teaching a child that age how to perform sexual acts is not education, it’s ‘grooming.'”
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Massachusetts Senate passes bill requiring schools to use updated sex education curriuculm
MassLive / Steph Solis / Thursday, January 16, 2020
The Senate passed a bill on Thursday that requires school districts offering sex education to use a curriculum they described as medically accurate, age-appropriate and inclusive of students regardless of their sexual orientation…
…The bill had support from health advocates and victim’s rights advocates who say the curriculum empowers students to learn about communication and healthy relationships, but critics called the legislation a “sex-ed mandate.”
“This takes control over sex-ed out of the hands of local schools and parents and gives it all to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,” the Massachusetts Family Institute wrote earlier this week, arguing the curriculum does not have age-appropriate material.
“The overwhelming majority of the content actually instructs children in how to engage in explicit sexual activity, making the abstinence message ineffective,” the institute’s website states.
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Sex-ed proposal draws criticism in Mass
NECN / John Moroney / Thursday, January 17, 2020
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Fight over assisted suicide lives on after court ruling
One News Now / Charlie Butts & Billy Davis / Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Massachusetts Superior Court ruled last week there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide and kicked the volatile issue back to state lawmakers, a decision applauded by many.
Andrew Beckwith of the Massachusetts Family Institute says the legal fight dates back to a lawsuit filed by Dr. Roger Kligler, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, given six months to live, but was alive this week to learn the court ruling.
“The good news for the doctor, not good news for his legal case,” Beckwith explains, “was that about three years ago he got an updated diagnosis where the cancer levels had gone down. So now his prognosis had changed from less than six months to live to years.”
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MA continues fight over graphic sex-ed lessons
One News Now / Bob Kellog / Wednesday, January 15, 2020
A vote coming as early as this week would force the current health curriculum to be used by all public schools if the Healthy Youth Act passes.
Andrew Beckwith of the Massachusetts Family Institute says the state Senate has passed similar legislation in the past but it has never come up for a vote in the House, where one lawmaker has publicly vowed to take action if his colleagues debate the bill.
“And during the debate,” Beckwith says of lawmaker, “he will just start reading from some of these curricula the bill would mandate, and so they won’t bring it up for a vote.”
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America’s Next Top Model Legislation
Family Research Council / Tony Perkins / Tuesday, January 14, 2020
What in the world is a “gender snowperson?” Ask your fourth grader. In Massachusetts, that’s how schools are teaching nine-year-olds to “never assume boys have penises.” Welcome to sex education, Planned Parenthood-style. And, if the state’s extremists get their way, Frosty’s friend is just the beginning.
“Is it age-appropriate to introduce twelve-year old children to anal sex?” the New Boston Post asks. “Is it medically accurate to encourage students to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by using Saran Wrap as a prophylactic during oral sex?” The state department of education thinks so. And so do its pals at Planned Parenthood.
Thanks to our friends at the Massachusetts Family Institute, parents are getting quite a sneak peak of the “pornographic content” their kids are about to learn if the Healthy Youth Act passes the state house. Until now, sex education has been optional for local districts. That will all change if HB 410 and SB263 make their way to the governor’s desk. From normalizing abortion and gender confusion to jaw-dropping descriptions of various acts, Planned Parenthood’s “Get Real” curriculum is so controversial that parents are furious it’s even being considered. When they found out that the country’s largest abortion provider might be put in charge of their kids’ sex education, they pitched a fit. And if it’s anything like the uproar in other communities, the Massachusetts legislature is about to have a bigger debate than it bargained for.
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Sex ed proposal draws criticism
The Salem News / Christian Wade / Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Students will be taught sex education in a “medically accurate, age appropriate” way under a proposal working its way through Beacon Hill, but critics say the move will strip local school districts of their authority…
…Andrew Beckwith, president of the conservative Massachusetts Family Institute, opposes the measure because he says it takes away local control from school districts and promotes the use of contraception and other standards that some parents might find inappropriate.
“The bottom line is it takes away local control from school committees and parents and puts it in the hands of state bureaucrats,” he said. “If you look at the type of curriculum schools would use, some of it is extraordinarily offensive and not appropriate for kids.”
Beckwith had pushed for provisions to the bill that would require parents to “opt in” for their children to participate, but lawmakers didn’t include that in the Senate version.
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Sex Ed, School Breakfast Bills on Senate’s Plate
State House News Service / Matt Murphy / Thursday, January 9, 2020
After an eight-week recess, the Senate will spring back to life next week when it plans to take up two pieces of legislation concerning school breakfast for low-income students and comprehensive sex education, which has been a controversial topic in recent years and one that has stalled out despite significant legislative support.
Senators on Thursday teed up the two bills for debate next Thursday in what will be the branch’s first substantive session since it broke for the holidays in late November…
…The Massachusetts Family Institute has objected to what it believes will be some of the options taught to respond to unwanted pregnancies, and argues that local communities should be able to decide what to teach.
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With majorities in both Houses, ROE Act could expand abortion rights in Mass
Valley Advocate / Luis Fieldman / Wednesday, January 8, 2020
As the constitutional right to an abortion is threatened in various states and in the country as a whole, the Massachusetts Legislature may soon consider an expansion of abortion rights in the state…
…Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), were advocates for the signature-gathering drive for the anti-abortion petition. According to the organization’s website, MFI “is dedicated to strengthening the family and affirming the Judeo-Christian values upon which it is based.”
“We were encouraged that once again they gathered over 50,000 certified signatures and it shows a lot of people in Massachusetts — wherever they stand on abortion — don’t think it’s proper for public funds to end lives of unborn children.”
Beckwith referred to the ROE Act as “radical anti-life, anti-parent” and as the “infanticide bill.” He said the bill would remove requirements to protect a baby’s life if they are born in a failed abortion.
“It would remove the requirement to save the life of an unborn,” Beckwith said.
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Five Massachusetts Conservative Victories of the 2010s
New Boston Post / NBP Staff / Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Do you think of Massachusetts as the most left-tilting state in the country? Many people do.
Yet during the past decade conservatives in Massachusetts have scored some surprising victories. Here are five:
…2. Voters Reject Assisted Suicide
Massachusetts isn’t one of the American states that allows physician-assisted suicide, thanks in part to an unlikely electoral victory in 2012.
A Yes vote for on a so-called “Death With Dignity” ballot question was leading by 31 percentage points – 60 to 20 percent – in late May 2012, less than six months before the general election, according to a poll.
Another poll, in mid-August 2012, less than three months before the election, had Yes up 58 to 24 percent – about 34 points.
Advocates for the disabled, the Massachusetts Family Institute, and the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, were among the opponents of the ballot question arguing that life is precious and mustn’t be undermined by suggesting suicide as an option for the seriously ill and those who may be depressed.
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White Evangelicals Push Back on Christianity Today Editorial Rebuking Trump
WGBH / Greater Boston Staff / Monday, December 23, 2019
After the magazine Christianity Today published an editorial this weekend calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office, many white evangelicals sharply pushed back, defending their support for the president.
In for Jim Braude, Adam Reilly was joined by Peggy Bendroth, executive director of the Congregational Library & Archives, and Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
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Parents Defeat Planned Parenthood Sex Ed in Liberal Massachusetts
Freedom Project Media / Duke Pesta / Wednesday, December 11, 2019
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Parents win against Planned Parenthood sex-agenda after shocking reveal
World Tribune Staff / World Tribune / Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Parents in Massachusetts scored a “huge victory” over Planned Parenthood when the abortion provider’s sex-education curriculum was voted down by the Worcester school board.
The parents, along with church leaders, joined with the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) to protest what they said was Planned Parenthood’s disturbingly graphic “Making Proud Choices” sex-ed curriculum which seeks to “normalize abortion” to middle school and high school students.
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VICTORY: Massachusetts Parents Defeat Planned Parenthood’s Sex Ed Curriculum
Elizabeth Johnston / Activist Mommy / Monday, December 9, 2019
Thanks to the tireless work of the Massachusetts Family Institute, parents in Worcester, Massachusetts have won a tremendous victory in the battle against Planned Parenthood’s perverted, unscientific sex education curriculum…
…Mary Ellen Siegler, MFI’s consultant on comprehensive sex education, told Breitbart News that many parents and school officials are ignorant of what children ultimately are taught in programs like Making Proud Choices.
Seigler reported that often receive “cursory or evasive” answers from school officials when they seek details on what their children will be taught. “They’re being sent back this information that, honestly, if you are not educated on the issues or haven’t done the deep research, it looks like what they’re being presented is totally fine,” she explained.
Thankfully, MFI’s vigilance paid off.
In a testimony before the Worcester school board committee after reviewing the “Making Proud Choices” sex-ed curriculum materials, MFI director Michael King revealed the disturbingly graphic nature of the curriculum.
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Family Group Defeats Planned Parenthood Using Abortionists’ Own Words
WND Staff / World Net Daily / Saturday, November 30, 2019
An official for a pro-family organization that recently blocked Planned Parenthood’s radical “Making Proud Choices” sex-ed curriculum from a public school says the victory was obtained by employing the truth and the abortionists’ own words.
Michael King, director of community alliances at the Massachusetts Family Institute, wrote in a Daily Signal column that parents in a “blue state” defeated Planned Parenthood at least partly by quoting from its own definition of “abstinence,” or “safe sex,” at a public meeting in February.
Only a few of the descriptions of “safe sex” can be mentioned in print, among them are “grinding, sex with clothes on, rubbing bodies, body massage, strip tease.”
King said Worcester, the second largest city in Massachusetts, was the scene of a “sex-ed showdown between Planned Parenthood and concerned parents and church leaders.”
(CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE).
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Boston and San Francisco, Often Simpatico, Split on Abortion
Martha Bebinger / WBUR / Friday, November 29, 2019
Massachusetts officials are struggling to understand why the state has been blacklisted by San Francisco over the state’s abortion laws.
Last month, San Francisco officials announced a ban on travel by city employees to Massachusetts and 21 other states whose abortion laws were deemed too restrictive by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The ban starts Jan. 1, 2020. San Francisco will not allow city contracts with Massachusetts-based companies after that date either…
…The blacklist is triggering a wide range of reactions, from business leaders who mutter about crazy times in San Francisco, to this from Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that opposes abortion rights.
“Massachusetts already loses over 18,000 of its unborn children every year to abortion,” he said. “How many more will it take to satisfy the mayor of San Francisco?”
(CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE).
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‘Sex Ed Showdown’: Parents Defeat Planned Parenthood In Blue Massachusetts
Dr. Susan Berry / Breitbart News / Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Parents and church leaders in Worcester, Massachusetts, joined with Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) to defeat a Planned Parenthood-implemented sex-ed curriculum in public schools.
In a column at the Daily Signal, Michael King, MFI director of community alliances, referred to the joint efforts of his organization, parents, and church leaders as a “sex ed showdown” with Planned Parenthood and its supporters.
He told Breitbart News in a phone interview that the Worcester school board committee ultimately voted down the curriculum because of the outreach of both parents and church leaders who outnumbered supporters of Planned Parenthood.
King explained MFI has reached out to about 125 different churches across the state throughout the past three years.
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Infanticide Legislation is Spreading in a Deep Blue State
Virginia Allen / The Daily Signal / Monday, November 25, 2019
Andrew Beckwith calls a proposed law in Massachusetts what it is—a prescription for infanticide. Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, explains why this bill would endanger women’s health and allow abortions to occur up to, and even during, delivery.
Beckwith also discusses his institute’s effort to stand against transgender legislation. And he explains a new Massachusetts law that places a counseling ban on licensed mental health professionals, stopping them from helping children feel comfortable in their own bodies. Read the lightly edited transcript below or listen to the podcast:
(CLICK HERE TO READ FULL TRANSCRIPT).
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Lynn schools board agrees to let health center provide birth control for students
John R. Ellement / Boston Globe / Friday, Novemeber 22, 2019
The Lynn School Committee has agreed to let a community health center that works in the schools provide birth control, including emergency contraception, to middle and high school students without parental approval, a move that has drawn sharp reaction…
…Michael King, the director of community alliances at the Massachusetts Family Institute, said he does not think free birth control will decrease the number of teenage pregnancies.
“We feel like doing this onsite is indirectly making it even more of an acceptable behavior to have sex as a teenager that can lead to many of these problems that young girls end up facing,” King said.
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Lynn School Committee votes to offer free contraceptives across district
Mark Ockerbloom / Boston25News / Friday, Novemeber 15, 2019
The Lynn School Committee voted unanimously on Thursday night to make contraceptives free and accessible to students across the district.
Condoms, birth control and emergency contraception will be made available soon to students at the district’s three high schools – Lynn Classical, Lynn English and Lynn Tech. Parental consent will not be a requirement for students to obtain these contraceptives…
…Others, however, only think this will further increase the problem of teen pregnancy and STD spreading. However, that has been proven wrong, and even the CDC says there is evidence to support that educating teens about sexual health decreases the rate of teen pregnancies.
“It’s crazy that you would need parental consent for a Tylenol but not for something that can have such great health risks,” said Michael King of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
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Massachusetts school district to offer emergency contraception, birth control to students
Douglas Hook / MassLive / Friday, November 15, 2019
High school students in one Massachusetts city will now have regular access to condoms, birth control and emergency contraception through the public school district.
Lynn School Committee members voted unanimously to approve stocking different methods of birth control to be provided to students upon request.
Lynn Community Health Center clinicians can now offer condoms, dispense oral contraceptives, inject Depo-Provera and provide Plan B emergency contraception to students…
…A study by the Massachusetts Family Institute has shown that young mothers are less likely to attain a high school diploma or college degree and achieve economic security. They are also more likely to be in need of government benefits than young women from similar backgrounds who delay motherhood.
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Lynn High Schools to Provide Birth Control to Combat High Teen Pregnancy Rate
Kathryn Sotnik / NBC Boston / Thursday, November 14, 2019
A unanimous vote by the Lynn school committee Thursday night will make condoms, birth control and emergency contraceptives available at high schools in the Massachusetts city.
The meeting room was packed with parents giving their input, many concerned it’s taking away their parental rights…
… Also in attendance was Michael King of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which is disappointed with the outcome.
“If you look at the New England Journal of Medicine, they came out with a study in 2017 with the increased risk of breast cancer for prolonged use of these hormonal contraceptives, so there’s a lot to talk about, and we don’t think that information is getting to the kids,” King said.
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Defeat of ROE Act urged at Statehouse rally
Jacqueline Tetrault / The Boston Pilot / Friday, Novemeber 8, 2019
Speakers from across the country, including an adult woman who survived her mother’s abortion, joined local pro-life organizations for Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s third annual Celebration of Life at the Statehouse on Oct. 30…
…Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, also shared some anecdotes about his work in the pro-life movement.
“When I grew up, I was told there are three things you don’t discuss in polite company: sex, religion and politics. Abortion is the intersection of all three,” Beckwith joked.
He said his first interaction with pro-life people was in law school, when a pro-choice group planned a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Beckwith and about a dozen peers responded by making and wearing pro-life T-shirts on the anniversary. They were nervous about the reactions they would get, but to their surprise, people thanked them for wearing the shirts.
“What that taught me is that, as loud as the pro-abortion industry is, they don’t represent as many of us as they would like us to think they do, and there are a lot of people out there that are hungering for the truth,” Beckwith said.
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ROE Act Supporters, Opponents Active on Hill
Chris Van Buskirk / State House News Service / Wednesday, October 30, 2019
“When I grew up, I was told there are three things you don’t discuss in polite company: sex, religion, and politics. Abortion is the intersection of all three. So, it can be tough to speak out about this issue at work, at school,” Massachusetts Family Institute president Andrew Beckwith said Wednesday at a “celebration of life” event in the State House Great Hall.
ROE Act opponents gathered Wednesday to rally against legislation that would remove obstacles and expand access to abortion and women’s reproductive health.
Billerica Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo, Renew Massachusetts Coalition, and Mass. Citizens for Life and the Mass. Family Institute hosted the third annual “celebration of life” to update the public and share information about pregnancy centers in the state. Over 100 attendees listened as speakers promoted pro-life sentiments and denounced the act that one attendee called the “infanticide bill.”
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Massachusetts Bill Would Legalize Abortions Up to Birth, Allow Infanticide
Micaiah Bilger / Life News / Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Massachusetts abortion activists upped the pressure this week on state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing abortions for basically any reason up to birth…
…On Wednesday, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, the Massachusetts Family Institute and other pro-life organizations plan to hold a press conference in the State House to oppose the Roe Act and affirm the need for pro-life options for women and children.
The bill is similar to legislation that passed earlier this year in New York, Vermont, Rhode Island and Illinois.
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Pro-lifers hoping to stop ‘Infanticide Act’
Chris Woodward / One News Now / Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The head of a public policy organization dedicated to strengthening families tells why pro-lifers in Massachusetts are gathering today in the Great Hall of the State House.
“We are bringing pro-life activists from across the commonwealth to the State House to do two things,” says Andrew Beckwith, president of Massachusetts Family Institute. “One, we really want to promote and raise awareness about the phenomenal work that so many of our pregnancy resource centers are doing. But also, this is all being done in the context of these infanticide bills, radical late-term abortion bills that are sweeping different parts of the country.”
In Massachusetts, legislators are discussing a measure known as the Roe Act.
“That would get rid of the requirement under current law for parental consent for a minor to have an abortion,” Beckwith explains. “It takes late-term abortions out of hospitals and puts them into clinics, [and] it also removes the requirement that doctors do their best to preserve the life of a child who survives abortion at age 24 weeks or beyond, which is why it’s appropriately called by our side the Infanticide Act.”
State Representative Marc Lombardo (R-22nd Middlesex), Friends of the Unborn, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, and Renew Massachusetts Coalition are joining Massachusetts Family Institute for a press conference today.
“Come to the State House and be prepared to talk with the pregnancy resource center volunteers and staffers, and then take that message to your state representative and state senator,” says Beckwith. “Use it as an opportunity to talk to the elected officials that represent you, to make sure they’re aware for the great work that these pregnancy resource centers are doing, especially if their district or community.”
Finally, he encourages pro-lifers to let the representatives know they are not in favor of this Roe Act.
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James Younger to have Texas judge decide fate over gender transition battle
Jeff Kuhner / The Kuhner Report / Friday, October 25, 2019
Jeffrey T. Kuhner, “Liberalism’s Worst Nightmare,” is a conservative nationalist, who champions God, country and family. His show deals
with cutting-edge, hot-button political, social and foreign policy issues.
[Tune to minute 28:30 to hear from MFI President Andrew Beckwith].
(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW).
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Mass. lawmakers want tighter rules for vaccines
Christian Wade / Newburyport News / Monday, September 16, 2019
Donato and Rausch’s legislation is expected to face less opposition, though it has yet to be scheduled for a committee hearing.
Even the Massachusetts Family Institute, which strongly opposes the medical society’s stance on religious exemptions, doesn’t have a problem with the new proposal as written.
“It seems the intent of this bill is not eliminating an important example of parental rights and religious freedom, but rather emphasizing awareness of the potential health risks of vaccine exemptions and better data collection,” Andrew Beckwith, the institute’s president, said in a statement. “To that extent, it is consistent with the fundamental right of parents to direct the health care of their children.”
He said immunization rules “should continue to balance public health concerns with these parental rights and religious freedom for the relative few that seek exemptions.”
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Beacon Hill Roll Call: How local pols voted on handheld cell phone ban
Bob Katzen / Taunton Daily Gazette / Saturday, September 14, 2019
GENDER X (H 3664) — The State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee held a hearing on a proposal that would allow Bay Staters to choose the gender-neutral designation “X” in lieu of “male” or “female” on state identifying documents including birth certificates, marriage licenses, driver’s licenses, learner’s permit, identification cards and liquor purchase identification cards. The Senate approved a similar proposal in April. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia currently allow a gender-neutral option on driver’s licenses…
…“If you look at your Massachusetts driver’s license, it lists ‘sex,’ not ‘gender,‘” said Massachusetts Family Institute President Andrew Beckwith. “The concept of ‘gender identity’ is based on internal feelings, but sex is binary (male or female) and grounded in biology. And we believe that a state ID should reflect that objective fact.”
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Bill would require gender ‘X’ option on all state documents
Mary Markos / Boston Herald / Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Advocates for a gender “X” designation on state documentation say making people chose male or female is akin to making them lie, while opponents argue that a person’s sex is a biological fact.
“If you look at your Massachusetts driver’s license, it lists ‘sex,’ not ‘gender,’” Andrew Beckwith of Massachusetts Family Institute told the Herald. “The concept of ‘gender identity’ is based on internal feelings, but sex is binary (male or female) and grounded in biology, and we believe that a state ID should reflect that objective fact.”
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Gender x bill supporters press for vote in House
Matt Murphy / State House News Service / Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Critics of the legislation, including former House lawmaker and Massachusetts GOP Chairman Jim Lyons, have raised concerns regarding public safety and confusion for law enforcement, while Massachusetts Family Institute Executive Director Andrew Beckwith said driver’s licenses should reflect a person’s sex, not their gender.
“The concept of ‘gender identity’ is based on internal feelings, but sex is binary (male or female) and grounded in biology, and we believe that a state ID should continue to reflect the objective fact of sex, not gender,” Beckwith said.
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Massachusetts ‘gender X’ bill up for debate
Rick Sobey / Boston Herald / Sunday, September 8, 2019
Advocates for a bill to let people choose “X” as a gender on driver’s licenses and birth certificates plan to show up in full force for a hearing this week on Beacon Hill, but opponents said they’re gearing up to push back against the “radical left” legislation…
…President of Massachusetts Family Institute Andrew Beckwith said that IDs should reflect “objective facts, not someone’s mental or emotional state.”
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Beacon Hill Roll Call: A look at major legislation in 2019 so far
Bob Katzen / Wicked Local Hanover / Sunday, September 8, 2019
Mental health experts and LGBTQ groups charge that the practice is scientifically unproven and unsound and can trigger depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts in these youngsters.
“We can offer assurances to those still struggling with coming out, or whose parents are still coming to terms with their orientation or identity, that that they will not be sent to a licensed therapist to change who they know themselves to be,” said Rep. Jack Lewis (D-Framingham) at the time of the vote.
“This vote was an appalling assault on parental rights in the commonwealth,” said the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute Andrew Beckwith who opposed lifting the ban. “Over 140 of our state legislators apparently believe that parents should not be able to get gender-confused children any treatment, even counseling, that might help them avoid cross-sex hormone injections, sterility or ‘transition’ surgery.
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2020 Ballot Taking Shape
Christian Wade / The Salem News / Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Healey’s office also certified a proposal to put a question on the November 2022 ballot asking voters to amend the state Constitution overturn a 1981 Supreme Judicial Court ruling that requires the state to fund abortion services. Backers of the proposal, which includes the Massachusetts Family Institute, proposed a similar initiative for the 2020 ballot but fell short of required signatures.
To get on the ballot, that proposal also needs approval from 50 members of the 200-member Legislature, meeting in two successive constitutional conventions.
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Massachusetts Family Institute
Adam Miller / Songtime Radio / Saturday, August 31, 2019
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Alliance aims to correct injustice against the preborn
Charlie Butts / One News Now / Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Once upon a time, Massachusetts did not use state revenue to terminate unborn children. But that was before the courts got involved. In 1981, the Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court, ordered that the state had to fund abortions through Medicaid.
Now, nearly 40 years later, the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) has launched a third petition drive.
“What we’re trying to do is amend the state constitution to correct that injustice and make sure that the people of the Commonwealth are not forced into being complicit with abortion by funding it with tax dollars,” MFI President Andrew Beckwith tells OneNewsNow.
He recognizes the challenge the Massachusetts Alliance to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortion has ahead of it.
“This time around, they’re going to need to gather over 80,000 certified signatures to get it on the ballot, so that’s a big lift,” Beckwith relays. “They’ll have 90 days to do it this fall, and I’m hopeful they’ll be successful.”
If they are, supporters will have to obtain at least 25 percent of the votes from both houses of the legislature in two consecutive state constitutional conventions before voters will have a chance to decide the issue. The earliest that would likely happen is the year 2022.
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Hank Stolz / Talk of the Commonwealth / Thursday, August 1, 2019
The debate surrounding Sex Ed in Worcester Public Schools has reignited In the wake of the Planned Parenthood endorsements for Worcester City Council and School Committee.
One of the major players in the debate surrounding comprehensive sex ed in WPS was the Massachusetts Family Institute. MFI was instrumental in the pushback against the implementation of comprehensive sex ed in WPS.
We had the President of MFI Andrew Beckwith on the show to talk about the issue.
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Foes of Massachusetts assisted-suicide bill warn of ramifications
Mary Markos / Boston Herald / Friday, June 28, 2019
Opponents of a bill to legalize medical aid in dying, known as death with dignity, argue that insurance companies could opt for the “cheaper” option and stop covering expensive medical treatments.
“At the legislative hearing on Tuesday, we heard testimony about insurance companies refusing to pay for life-giving treatments and offering much cheaper suicide drugs as an alternative,” Andrew Beckwith of Massachusetts Family Institute said. “We have the best health care in the world here in Massachusetts, and this bill would be a huge step backwards for quality of care and the rights of patients.”
Beckwith and other organizations are pushing back against the legislation, pointing to testimony from people like Stephanie Packer, a California woman who said her insurance would no longer cover chemotherapy after physician-assisted suicide was legalized in her state. She traveled to Massachusetts earlier this week to testify against the bill in a Joint Committee on Public Health hearing.
“I can’t describe what it feels like when someone tells you that they’re no longer going to pay for drugs that will extend your life significantly, that will give me more time with my kids,” Packer said. “But for a buck I can go ahead and make it stop if I kill myself.”
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‘Death with dignity’ push gaining ground in MA
Chris Woodward / One News Now / Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Lawmakers in Massachusetts are debating today about doctor-assisted suicide.
Today’s discussion will take place in the Joint Committee on Public Health, where advocates for the proposal call it “death with dignity” but Andrew Beckwith of Massachusetts Family Institute says the method is still assisted suicide.
“They’ve been after this for years,” he advises. “They took it to the vote of the people on a ballot referendum in 2012 and it was defeated in large part due to the great work of the Church, particularly the Catholic archdiocese of Boston.”
The ballot measure was defeated 51-49 percent after a “ferocious political battle,” The Boston Globe reported at the time.
Opponents of the “death with dignity” referendum organized in the final weeks after a poll showed support for the measure, the newspaper reported, and the public was flooded with messages of opposition from religious leaders, pro-life activists, and a physicians group.
The bill requires two witnesses to sign a written request for the lethal drugs. However, one of the witnesses can legally be someone who stands to enjoy an inheritance from the person that is about to die, which creates an obvious scenario for greed.
Beckwith gives one chilling example: a dying woman’s grandson convinces her to swallow the poison pill while scheming with a girlfriend to sign as witnesses. But there is little evidence of their misdeeds.
“There would be no record for the rest of the family members to know what actually happened,” Beckwith says, “because doctors are prohibited from putting anything on the death certificate other than the underlying disease.”
Beckwith expects pushback this time around and is urging the public to contact their legislators and tell them to oppose the “death with dignity” legislation.
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Natick Teen Inspires Gender Identity Bill in Massachusetts
Mike LaCrosse / CBS (Boston) / Wednesday, June 19, 2019
The Gender Identity Bill passed the Senate this spring and is now waiting for consideration in the House.
If passed it would allow someone to check “X” instead of “Male” or “Female” for a license, ID or birth certificate. It would also require the Office of the Attorney General to create a report detailing all state documents where someone is required to indicate their gender…
The Massachusetts Republican Party is against the bill.
“Implementing this added regulation will just be another unnecessary cost to the hardworking taxpayers of Massachusetts. The added bureaucracy will also make the tough job of law enforcement even tougher,” said Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons.
The Massachusetts Family Institute is also opposed.
“If you’re male or female that’s a biological fact that your identification should reflect,” said Massachusetts Family Institute President Andrew Beckwith.
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Watch: Massachusetts Doctors Support Infanticide Bill, but ‘Not Familiar with that Particular Section’
Dr. Susan Berry / Breitbart / Wednesday, June 19, 2019
“In a video clip of testimony provided by Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), both Dr. Carole Allen, vice president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Dr. Luu Ireland, OB/GYN at UMass Memorial, are heard telling members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary they support S. 1209, titled An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access (ROE).”
“Andrew Beckwith, a Massachusetts attorney and president of MFI, told Breitbart News when his organization was present at the testimony of the doctors, he expected to see some “back and forth on what really is the infanticide provision of this bill that removes an existing requirement that’s been on the books in Massachusetts since 1974.”
“So, when this doctor, who is the vice president of the Massachusetts Medical Society testifies that her organization supports this bill and is questioned on this provision, she’s unaware that it’s even in the bill,” he said incredulously.
Beckwith said the ROE Act allows abortion “from conception to crowning.” He added the legislation would allow abortions in the latter part of pregnancy to be performed at abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood, rather than solely in hospitals.
When he testified before the Judiciary Committee on Monday, Beckwith directed his attention at one point to the proposed elimination of the requirement of parental consent for a minor’s abortion.
“This is the day after Father’s Day and the supporters of the ROE Act are unapologetically saying, in the context of abortions for underage girls, fathers and mothers are nothing more than ‘obstacles’ to be removed,” Beckwith observed.”