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LWVMA Statement on Leaked Supreme Court Opinion

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts views the leaked Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, if it holds, as an attack on a fundamental right to health care and to the right of pregnant people to make their own decisions about what is best for them. In light of the probable overturning of Roe v. Wade, the League expresses its gratitude to the Massachusetts state legislature for passing, in 2020, the ROE Act, legislation that codified the right to an abortion in Massachusetts regardless of any U.S. Supreme Court decision. We salute our partners in reproductive health advocacy for their work in anticipating the need for this legislation.

We now urge the legislature to continue this work protecting the right to make one’s own health care decisions by passing without delay two additional bills:

  • 1196/S.673 An Act ensuring access to full spectrum pregnancy care. This bill would provide financial assistance for a full-range of pregnancy-related care. See our testimony.
  • 2399/S.1470 An Act to require public universities to provide medication abortion. See our testimony.

The national League of Women Voters continues to advocate for these rights on the federal level. Read their statement here.

State Council/National Convention

State Council Set for June 11

The 2022 LWVMA Council will be held on Saturday, June 11 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.  Ellen Clegg, former Editorial Page Editor of The Boston Globe, and Northeastern University Professor Dan Kennedy, are the keynote speakers. Their remarks will focus on the collapse of community journalism and its causes. We will learn, too, of the alternative paths that entrepreneurial journalists are creating to keep providing news and information citizens need to govern themselves in a democracy.

There’s no limit to the number of members who can register; the leadership of LWVN will designate its voting delegates. There is no cost to attend as delegate or as an observer.

This event will be held on zoom.  Register here.

For questions about the State Council, please contact the LWVMA Office at (857) 452-1715.

National Convention Set for June 23-26

LWVUS has published the first call for its 55th Annual Convention June 23 – 26, 2022.  This event will beheld in-person.  More information can be found here.

If you are a member of LWVN and would like to attend either the State Council or the National Convention, please Contact Us so that we can know who will be attending.

 

LWVN Supports An Act Promoting Community Immunity

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts has endorsed and testified in support of S.1517/H.2271, An Act Promoting Community Immunity.

This bill is currently in jeopardy of being killed off by the house.  Please send emails to Chairs Marjorie Decker and Jo Comerford of the Joint Committee on Public Health, Senate President Karen Spilka, and House Speaker Ron Marino, urging them to move the bill out favorably. Their emails are as follows:

For your convenience, here is a template email you can use:

“Dear Speaker Mariano, Senate President Spilka, Chair Decker, and Chair Comerford:

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to release the Community Immunity Act from the Public Health Committee today and send it to the Senate for speedy consideration. We are quite literally living through the consequences of our state’s drastic flaws in infectious disease prevention infrastructure. This bill, carefully crafted with input from experts in both public health and government administration, provides the infrastructure we desperately and obviously need. In the 2019-2020 school year, nearly 100 kindergarten programs throughout the state had 10% or more of their students missing vaccines and also missing an exemption form; that is an infrastructure problem. In the same school year, more than 2,000 school and daycare programs failed to report any vaccination or immunization data to the Department of Public Health; that is an infrastructure problem. We have no statutory support for DPH to do concerted and targeted education and outreach in communities at an elevated risk for the spread of infectious disease; that is an infrastructure problem. We have no notification to parents and caregivers when programs their children attend drop below herd immunity rates for measles, whooping cough, polio, or any other vaccine-preventable infectious disease; that is an infrastructure problem.We have serious immunization infrastructure problems and we need a serious immunization infrastructure bill to fix it. The Community Immunity Act is that bill. Failing to advance and enact this bill will be failing all of us throughout Massachusetts, and particularly the communities hardest hit by COVID-19.Thank you in advance for your support.

Respectfully,”

Transportation and Climate Initiative – May 20th at 4:00PM

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Join League members from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island for this special, tri-state League sponsored event to learn how we can all help reduce pollution that causes respiratory diseases such as asthma while investing equitably in modern, clean, regional transportation solutions.

When: Thursday, May 20th, 2021 from 4:00-5:00pm

RSVP at: tinyURL.com/lwv2021tci

Cosponsors: League of Women Voters of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, Transportation Team of LWV US Climate Interest Group, The Acadia Center, Ceres, Green Energy Consumer Alliance, and Transportation for Massachusetts

 

Redistricting in Massachusetts: Training Opportunities

The Massachusetts redistricting process is underway.   Training opportunities conducted by Drawing Democracy and CHARGE designed for all levels of expertise are now available.  At these trainings, you will learn about how to engage in redistricting with other community members and how to use presentations and materials provided to you to help organize your community.

The CHARGE Redistricting Community College training is designed for all 50 states.  The Drawing Democracy training is Massachusetts specific.  Either training is valuable for anyone interested in working on redistricting in your communities or region.

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