Staten Island, NY – Leaders of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, the nation's largest network of women and men testifying to the harm they've endured from abortion, today criticized a bill passed by the Massachusetts Senate that would require pro-life pamphleteers and counselors to stay 35 feet from the edge of an abortion clinic's property.

The bill's passage comes only weeks after a 22-year-old woman died during or shortly after an abortion at a Cape Cod area clinic.  An autopsy on the woman is pending.

"That the Massachusetts Senate would move to protect the abortion industry in the wake of Laura Smith's death is appalling," said Georgette Forney, co-founder of SNMAC.  "A young woman apparently dies on an abortion table and the Senate's response is to pass a bill saying that the public can't exercise their First Amendment rights to warn women about the dangers of abortion.  It’s beyond belief."

"I know literally thousands of women who wish someone had given them an alternative to abortion," added Janet Morana, also a SNMAC co-founder.  "The pro-abortion profiteers and their public relations flacks want women to be shielded from everything but their sales pitches.  I would hope the Massachusetts House would see through this charade and protect both the First Amendment and women’s right to know their options."