From My Corner by Dalia Diaz

Mayor Brian DePeña’s Challenges

Occasionally on Saturdays, Brian visits my home on his way back from church service, which he did this week as well. We had the opportunity to converse for a while, and he appeared to be his usual self.

He is confident that errors have been made and that they will be rectified. “The FBI has amassed a significant amount of information that now needs to be clarified,” he explained. “It is my duty to collect the appropriate information for them.” 

Everyone involved demonstrated respect and conveyed their explanations with a sense of good faith, indicating a positive outlook towards a favorable outcome. There were no specified future dates for appearances before the court mentioned, and he will be able to travel for a wedding next month.

Mayor DePeña remains confident that the laws in this country will see him through this situation, and it is essential to remember that everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty.

Are We Losing Our Humanity?

Like any election period in this country, the abortion subject becomes a bone of contention and deciding factor for many people voting for a specific candidate supporting it, as if that is the only topic affecting society.  There are many ills among us, we depend on the wisdom of our leaders to solve them and the person who favors killing a baby may not have any idea as to how to react when facing emergencies.

I have spent more than half a century defending women’s rights, and I still believe we need to ask where the rights of the unborn child enter the equation.

Since the early 70s that has been an important topic for me. I have written extensively about women’s rights, including the right to abortion and that was during the days when it was nearly impossible to get one. There have been many reasons for which if was necessary, sometimes for the mother’s health at that time that may be a detriment to her life or other factors affecting the baby and many women died in the process. Another valid reason is in case of rape. 

In 1972 I wrote a booklet explaining why it was imperative to approve the Equal Rights Amendment; the 20-year window to make it part of the Constitution went by and our legislators never mentioned it again. That’s how strongly I felt about those issues.

Last week, Governor Maura Healey was seen with a group of young women, happy to sign into law the passing of the unlimited gestation period to have an abortion. We are no longer limited by the previous 24-week statutory restriction. The new law contains no gestational limit and permits a physician to perform an abortion at any point in pregnancy based on the physician’s professional judgment. 

In practical terms, that means Massachusetts law no longer establishes a point during pregnancy—including the final days before birth—after which an abortion is categorically prohibited.”

Our governor Healey has been on the news all week, but we know that she loves taking credit for anything she can and doesn’t give credit to others. Let’s remember that she only signed it, but this was debated in a rush for two weeks by the legislators without any public input and then sent to the governor for the show and signature.

Check how our Lawrence delegation voted on this: Francisco Paulino was the only one refusing it. Religious people from everywhere have shown displeasure with the new law; from local religious leaders to Catholic bishops from all over the Commonwealth, some saying it’s barbaric.

I agree that we are losing our humanity because there are so many ways to prevent an unwanted pregnancy that I cannot justify this new law. 

State Rep. Jeffrey Turco, one of the legislators who opposed the bill, put it more bluntly: he said the law allows abortion “anytime, unrestricted, and in many cases, publicly funded until the moment of birth.” 

There is, however, a question that I believe Massachusetts residents have every right to ask. Massachusetts law recognizes that the killing of a viable fetus can, under certain circumstances, constitute homicide. Yet abortion is governed by an entirely different legal framework. I understand that these are legally distinct situations, and I am not suggesting otherwise. But the contrast raises a profound moral question: how can we recognize the loss of a viable unborn child’s life as a homicide when someone else causes its death, while our law permits the intentional termination of that developing life in a medical setting?