The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • A6

A6 NationRegion The Boston Globe MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 Trustees group looks to Boston for next project PAT GREENHOUSEGLOBE STAFFFILE2016 has been one of the jewels of the Trustees of Reservations' holdings. TRUSTEES Continued from Page Al selected. But the Trustees said the park could be downtown Boston's version of the High Line, New York City's wildly popular elevated pedestrian walkway, or a floating park that invites the public back to a waterfront that has fast-filled with luxury condos. The organization faces challenges, including competition from developers eyeing the same properties, negotiations with government agencies that own some of the parcels under consideration, and a need to rally donors to raise millions of dollars to fund such a project. And despite their name, the Trustees are not a government agency, foundation, or some sort of Brahmin social club.

The group is the first and oldest land conservation nonprofit of its kind in the world, and today it owns or oversees thousands of acres in every region of the state but not Boston, where it manages small community gardens and wildlife tracts. A member-supported nonprofit with more than $275 million in assets and a $33 million annual operating budget, the group generally operates with an understated passion that befits its old New England pedigree. Yet in addition to its acreage, it owns more than 10 historic homes or mansions, two inns, and two campgrounds, two lighthouses and more than a dozen public gardens. Although many Massachusetts residents may be unfamiliar with the group or its holdings, its fans include England's Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated the Trustees 100th anniversary in 1991 with a congratulatory letter offering "very warm good wishes." Its fortune has come primarily from the owners of wealthy estates or its heirs who bequeathed their property to save it from development, or in some cases, so it would remain almost exactly as they left it. There's the Lyman Reserve, a The World's End in Hingham 201-acre wilderness area in the Bourne area, where a fishing "shack" contained historic portraits of hunters and gentlemen, some dating back to the 16th or 17th century.

And the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate in Canton, encircled by woods and rolling fields and home to a small work-ing farm with a llama and sheep. It was built by Boston doctor Arthur Cabot in 1902. The holdings are a who's who of Massachusetts history and the acquisitions often come with troves of artifacts, from Oriental rugs to nut dishes to oil portraits. To keep it all organized and in good repair, the Trustees maintain a archival facility in a former whaling museum in Sharon. A committee meets to determine what, if anything, could ever be thrown away at the country estates and mansions.

The group is decades older than the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is the second-largest owner of waterfront property in Massachusetts, after the federal govern The Drydock would also need millions in repairs to be useful as anything at all. Supporters of the project, including Abbott, say Erickson is well-suited to lead the historic push. She has brought change to the Trustees, including a new branding campaign that increased public awareness of their properties. Under her leadership, the number of visitors to Trustees properties jumped from 1.2 million in 2012 to 2 million to date in 2017. "Barbara Erickson has a very clear vision for the Trustees' mission in the urban waterfront," said Bradley Campbell, president at the Conservation Law Foundation.

"And she is absolutely tenacious As the Trustees draw more attention, there have been disputes to navigate. At World's End, Hingham neighbors are in litigation with the town and the Trustees over the group's plan to expand a parking lot and build a "visitors' hut." The Trustees have also tried to broaden the context of their holdings, inviting artist Sam Durant to the Old Manse in Concord to explore how history can depend on who is telling it. The artist's installation included acknowledgment of the slavery that took place at the site and raised questions about whether conservation efforts in Concord have driven up property values and further limited racial integration. A leading supporter of the Trustees is Amos Hostetter, one of the wealthiest men in Boston, whose office is on the downtown waterfront. Hostetter has been concerned that development will block future generations' access to the water.

The billionaire, also known for his low-key, old Yankee style, gave the Trustees $1.7 million to plan harbor parks through his private Barr Foundation. Hostetter was unavailable for comment, but Barr Foundation president Jim Canales said the group has the right qualifications for creating an exciting public venue. "They obviously enjoy a very good reputation for being su Activists seek ballot question to reopen fight on abortion funds State funding of abortion under Medicaid UNDER COURT ORDER TO INCLUDE COVERAGE FOR ABORTION IN STATE MEDICAID PROGRAM VOLUNTARILY COVERS ABORTION IN STATE MEDICAID PROGRAM WITHHOLDS STATE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR ABORTION A ment. Its lighthouses are located in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Erickson said the Trustees want the new park to pack a "social benefit." That could mean, for example, a floating park with added value as a station for studying rising sea levels, she said.

Kathy Abbott, chief executive of Boston Harbor Now and previous interim president of the Trustees, says the group is relatively new to working within the city of Boston. "That's a whole lesson in itself," Abbott said. "That entails understanding all the regulatory stuff, the local politics at the neighborhood level and at the city level and the state and regional level. There are competing interests." The city's redevelopment authority, for example, owns Dry-dock 4 in the Seaport District, a site under consideration for a park. Agency director Brian Golden said recently that there have not been substantive discussions with the Trustees about a park project.

Wajda said. "The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has recognized this, ruling that prohibiting state funding for abortion for Medicaid-eligible women renders the right to an abortion illusory." The initiative petition now proposed directly targets that decision and seeks to disentangle abortion from other constitutional rights. "Nothing in this Constitution requires the public funding of abortion," according to the language the measure would add to the Constitution. It would require another act of the Legislature to actually alter the funding. In Tennessee, a 2014 constitutional amendment went even further, directly prohibiting state funding for abortions.

Since then, Tennessee passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning the procedure after 20 weeks. Abortion rights defenders fear an erosion of rights under the Trump administration and have been trying fend off incremental restrictions on abortion rights at various state legislatures. "The current national political environment is one of the perb stewards of great, significant open spaces," Canales said. The Trustees have hired planners from the Greenway as well as lawyers with reputations for understanding the sharp nuances of city and state processes. And they are already working with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the firm that created the park at the Brooklyn Bridge, to envision what could be possible along Boston's waterfront.

Erickson said the group mobilizes quickly when a desirable property comes on the market, as it did last year when 20.5 acres near the Crane Estate in Ipswich, one of its "jewels," came up for sale. The Trustees within three months came up with $2.5 million in funding to buy the parcel. "This is what we've been doing throughout our history," Erickson said. "Saving the irreplaceable." Now the new goal is to figure out how to build it. Woolhouse can be reached at megan.woolfwuseglobe.com.

took up a whole new effort to do so. Abortion opponents acknowledge they don't have those votes, but they want to start the conversation. "Unless it's an issue that people talk about," Harvey said, "nothing's ever going to change." Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at Stephanie.Ebbertglobe. com. SOURCES: The Guttmacher Institute, American Civil Liberties Union PATRICK GARVINGLOBE STAFF A nationwide push The effort to amend the Massachusetts Constitution as a first step toward banning state funding of abortions is among a variety of recent attempts across the country to regulate and restrict abortion.

Here's a look at some measures approved this year: Gender selection: In Arkansas, a new law prohibits abortion for the purpose of gender selection. Post-20-week ban: Iowa and Kentucky have new laws banning abortion at or beyond 20 weeks post-fertilization, except when the woman's life or health is severely compromised. Tennessee has a similar new law that specifically forbids exceptions when a woman's mental health is in danger. Additional staffing: In Arizona, doctors who perform abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization or beyond will be required to have additional staff and equipment. Abortion providers will be required to contact emergency services if a live fetus is delivered during an abortion.

Clinic inspections, shutdowns: A new Arkansas law requires the state to close abortion clinics for any violation of clinic regulations; clinics have 30 days to respond. The state will also conduct annual, unannounced inspections of abortion clinics. Another new law requires tissue from an abortion to be buried or cremated. Funding: A new Oklahoma law provides money for services to assist pregnant women in carrying pregnancies to term. The money cannot go to organizations that provide abortion counseling or referrals or receive funds from an entity that provides abortions.

Fetal tissue: Wyoming will prohibit the donation of tissue from an abortion, as well as research using such tissue. Abortion method: Arkansas will ban the use of dilation and evacuation abortion, the standard method for abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, unless the woman's life or health are in danger. Counseling: Utah will require patients to receive counseling materials on the possibility of stopping a medication abortion before completion. Teleconference: West Virginia has a new law prohibiting the use of telemedicine consultation provided remotely in cases of medication abortion. Parental notification: West Virginia changed its parental notification law to require 48 hours' notice before a minor can have an abortion, rather than 24 hours.

Preservation of life: Arkansas will require abortion providers to preserve the life of a fetus delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Ultrasound requirement: Wyoming will require abortion providers to offer an ultrasound and the option to listen to the fetal heartbeat to a woman seeking an abortion. Source: Guttmacher Institute ABORTION Continued from Page Al prefer not to address. For instance, state Representative James J. Lyons a sponsor of the measure, pointed to language in Massachusetts law, defining abortion as "the knowing destruction of the life of an unborn child." "When you put it out there like that, you think, 'Why are we spending our tax dollars on said Lyons.

"I guess what we're trying to do is just bring an awareness to what's going on in Massachusetts," he added. "You talk to people and say, 'Do you know that our tax dollars pay for abortion in And they'll say, 'No, no, that doesn't It's unclear exactly how much Massachusetts spends on abortion services each year, though it's a small share of the state's spending on health care, which dominates the overall budget. Medicaid, known in Massachusetts as MassHealth, covers about 1.9 million residents and cost the state $6.2 billion in the past fiscal year, with the federal government picking up the rest of the $15.2 billion tab. Sharon Torgerson, a spokeswoman for the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services, could not provide a sum specific to abortion but said the state spends $5.7 million on all MassHealth family planning services. Conservatives object to the state sending their tax dollars to abortion clinics.

But abortion-rights defenders think the Hyde Amendment itself is discriminatory, making it more difficult for poor women in most states to gain access to safe abortions. The amendment blocks federal dollars from being used for abortion, except in cases of rape or incest or to save the life of the pregnant woman, noted Tricia Wajda, director of communications for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. "Every woman regardless of her ZIP code should have most hostile in recent memory to health care access, women, and reproductive rights," Wajda said. But she thinks resistance has only built in Massachusetts. "The people of Massachusetts and our lawmakers have responded to this dangerous climate by rallying to support access to affordable health care and basic rights whenever they have been challenged." In Massachusetts, any change in abortion funding is a long way from reality.

An initiative petition starts with a proposal submitted to the attorney general's office by at least 10 voters. The petition must then demonstrate public support by attracting the signatures of a certain number of registered voters this year 64,750 and submitting them to local election officials by November. If this signature drive succeeds, the petition would then require the approval of one-quarter of the Legislature 50 lawmakers in two successive legislative sessions, meaning the earliest it could appear on a ballot is 2020. The signature-gathering effort is being pushed by the Renew Massachusetts Coalition, a conservative advocacy group that worked on last summer's successful signature drive for a 2018 ballot question that would repeal the state's transgender accommodations law. Harvey said he thinks it could garner more support than other abortion measures because it also deals with fiscal issues.

"It's not up or down on abortion. It's what your tax dollars are going to," he said. Typically, the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund can rely on the support of 131 of the 198 members of the Massachusetts House and Senate (with two Senate vacancies). In Massachusetts, even many leading Republicans wholeheartedly defend abortion rights. In the spring, Governor Charlie Baker pledged to shore up Planned Parenthood funding in Massachusetts if Congress followed through on the ability to make decisions about her health and abortion without barriers," Wajda said in an e-mail.

"While 17 states do provide Medicaid coverage for abortion with state dollars, many women still do not have affordable access to abortion care." She noted that they include women who work for the federal government, regardless of where they live; veterans who use the veterans affairs system; uniformed service members and their families around the world; federal prisoners; Peace Corps volunteers; and beneficiaries of Indian Health Services. Massachusetts also barred state funding for abortions for a brief period, starting in 1978, following the Legislature's passage of what was known as the Flynn-Doyle bill. One of its authors was then-Representative Raymond Flynn, who would later become mayor of Boston. But in 1981, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that women eligible for Medicaid have a constitutionally protected right to funding for abortion. "The right to safe, legal abortion means little to the woman who cannot afford her care," threatened budget cuts.

Asked about the governor's position about the initiative petition, Torgerson said in a statement that "the governor opposes any efforts to defund women's health and family planning services in the Commonwealth." Abortion rights advocates remain confident that they will prevail. And even if the public supported it, the measure would not take away taxpayer funding unless the Legislature.