Final Update Regarding
the Effort to Suspend Chapter 188 of the
Acts of Massachusetts 2026
(Third Trimester Abortions)
We are very grateful to all those parishes who have asked their parishioners to sign petitions to suspend the new law (effective November 8) permitting Third Trimester abortions. Some parishes have had great success in encouraging parishioners to do so. But we need every parish to participate. 50,000 verifiable signatures are necessary for this repeal effort and that challenge is quite daunting.
As of this morning only one parish in the City of Worcester has presented their signature forms to the City for verification.
Some misinformation is being offered by well-meaning persons, but who have never been involved in this process before.
So, again, to clarify...
1) The Election Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth does not verify the legitimacy of the signature forms. Only local (city and town) clerks do that.
2) Each parish presents their own petitions to the relevant local city or town clerk(s).
3) That municipality will issue you a receipt for the petition forms. The clerk will ask for your phone number. The clerk for that municipality will verify (validate) the signatures and addresses. When done they will call the person who dropped them and tell them that they can be picked up at the clerk’s office.
The municipal clerks need time to verify the signatures after receiving them and then must alert you to pick them up. So, time is of the essence.
4) For those parishes who wish to use the services of the Diocese of Worcester, we will assume the responsibility of presenting all the (locally verified) petitions for the parishes of the Diocese to the Commonwealth. We will do this on Thursday, October 22.
5) This means we are asking that all the verified forms be hand delivered to the Chancery, 49 Elm Street, by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 21, just a little more than a week from today.
6) For access to the door at the Chancery on the day you present them, please call Gina Curini, at 508-929-4345. Her email address is gcurini@worcesterdiocese.org.
7) If, however, a parish wants to hand deliver its own forms to the Election Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth you are free to do so. The Commonwealth (as it states on the petition form; upper right-hand corner) will receive locally validated forms at the address of One Ashburton Place, Boston, Room 1705, Boston, MA. That date is Friday, November 6, at 5:00 pm, two days before the new abortion law goes into effect.
Thanks for your efforts to suspend this new law so that the voters of the Commonwealth can vote on it in the election of 2028.
Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan
Vicar General