Buffer zone repeal, HB 1625, has made it past the New Hampshire House and is on its way to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The committee will hear testimony Tuesday, April 19, at 2:30pm in room 100 of the State House in Concord. Everyone who engages in peaceful pro-life witness on public sidewalks has a chance to tell the committee to do the right thing by voting Ought to Pass on HB 1625. Everyone who supports First Amendment rights ought to be right there with them.
HB 1625 is the latest effort to repeal the unenforced buffer zone law, which gives abortion facility managers the right to decide whether peaceful pro-life witness may take place on public property adjacent to their facility. The law has no business being on the books. Repeal is overdue.
If you attend: the committee will have hearings on several bills throughout the day, and the HB 1625 hearing might begin late. Be sure to sign in on the HB 1625 sheet that will be on a table just inside the door of the hearing room. Even if the committee runs late and you have to leave, your sign-in will let the senators know where you stand.
If you can’t attend: sign in electronically, using the Senate Remote Sign-In Sheet. You’ll need to enter the hearing date (4/19), committee (Judiciary), bill number (HB 1625), and then click the box indicating SUPPORT for the bill.
Whether you attend or not, you can email the committee with your testimony – which can be as simple as a polite request that they vote Ought to Pass on HB 1625. On the Judiciary Committee’s web page, click on “Email Entire Committee.”
Update on FLPA bills
Let’s take a look at the status of the bills seeking to amend the Fetal Life Protection Act, New Hampshire’s 24-week abortion restriction.
On its way to Governor Sununu’s desk: HB 1673, a good bill that clarifies FLPA’s ultrasound language while leaving the rest of the law intact. You can contact the Governor’s office and ask him to SIGN the bill. He might be reluctant to sign this one, preferring to wait for another bill that adds an exception to FLPA, so your voice in support of HB 1673 is important.
On its way to the Senate for a vote on Thursday, April 21: HB 1609, which in its current form clarifies FLPA’s ultrasound provision but also adds an exception to the 24-week abortion limit that would allow eugenic abortion for “fetal anomalies incompatible with life.” (This is the Governor’s preferred version.) I will be asking my senator to resist the overwhelming pressure he must be under to add an exception to FLPA.
On its way to the full House for a vote, not yet scheduled: SB 399, which is pretty much a duplicate of HB 1673. After being introduced as a bill to repeal FLPA, the bill was amended by the full Senate into one that would keep FLPA intact except for clarification of the ultrasound language. The House Judiciary Committee has recommended Ought to Pass on SB 399 as amended in the Senate. The vote in the full House is likely to be close.
Post header photo: Michael Drummond/Pixabay.
Leaven for the Loaf 
Please sign HB 1673. Please don’t sign HB 1609 Thank you.
Thank you so very much, Ellen. Great, brief and to the point article – providing the means for action. Thank you!!