An Advocacy Champion Who Gets It

Advocacy is a core part of the Resolve New England mission, and as such, we proudly give an annual Advocacy Award. This honor recognizes an individual, group or organization who over the past year has advanced fertility and family building through their advocacy and/or policy efforts.

This year RNE was thrilled to give our Advocacy Award to Massachusetts State Senator Paul Feeney of Foxboro, who represents the Bristol and Norfolk district.

Senator Feeney is the lead sponsor of S.2005, a bill designating October 15 annually as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day in the Commonwealth, which is one of RNE’s legislative priorities.

Through this legislation and more, he advocates for those who are trying to grow their families or who have struggled in the past, in order to raise awareness about the shared pain that so many suffer.

This deep commitment is inspired in part because Senator Feeney and his wife Laura have personally endured these experiences themselves.

During his powerful testimony in support of S. 2005, he told the State Administration committee, "Loss is not easy to talk about, and unfortunately it is not often talked about, especially by men in our society. And I thought how appropriate it is that this bill has been filed, since it is so rarely talked about in our social circles.”

RNE formally announced the Advocacy Award during our 30^th anniversary family building conference, and I expressed gratitude that Senator Feeney is such a passionate advocate for our community, illustrated by the fact that he is a sponsor of all of RNE’s priority bills in Massachusetts.

“I am humbled, grateful, and honored”, said Feeney. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with RNE, as well as the many champions in the Massachusetts House and Senate, to advance fertility and family building priorities this session.”

In addition to a tangible award, RNE makes a donation in honor of each year’s honoree to a fellow non-profit organization in our field that is meaningful to the honorees. This year we were pleased to donate to the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Association in honor of Paul and Laura Feeney.  

Past RNE Advocacy Award winners include former New Hampshire State Senator Martha Hennessey, the Rhode Island Parentage Coalition, Connecticut State Representative Jeff Currey, Maine State Representative Colleen Madigan, and Dr. Samuel Pang of Boston IVF.

We can’t wait to see who RNE will honor in 2024!