The New Hampshire Senate on March 9 killed a bill to declare abortion “vital to the equality and liberty of all individuals.” SB 181 died when the Senate voted 14-10 to support an “inexpedient to legislate motion.” The vote was along party lines, with all ten Democrats in the minority. The same ten senators had co-sponsored the measure.
Now is a good time to thank your senator, if she or he is one of the fourteen Republicans. Their votes killed SB 181.
Other bills heading to the House floor; watch out for HB 224
If you don’t have time to read any further, at least read this: tell your state representatives to vote inexpedient to legislate on HB 224-FN, repealing penalties from the Fetal Life Protection Act (FLPA). Find your representatives’ contact information on the General Court website.
On the House side, nine life-issue bills await action. The full House, coming up against its “crossover” deadline, will meet in at least three sessions between March 16 and 23 to consider committee recommendations.
The Judiciary Committee tied 10-10 on four bills proposed by abortion advocates, meaning those bills will go the full House without a recommendation. The committee voted to recommend “inexpedient to legislate” on three bills with pro-life sponsors. (See descriptions of all these bills in this blog’s February 25 post.) Those bills are not on the calendar for the March 16 House session, so they will not come up for a vote until the following week.
That gives you time to reach out to your state representatives. The recent Senate vote tells me that sweeping pro-abortion measures, even if passed by the House, won’t make it past the Senate. Abortion-friendly measures masquerading as “moderate,” however, pose a much bigger threat. That means representatives need to hear loud and clear to vote inexpedient to legislate on HB 224-FN, which would repeal penalties from the Fetal Life Protection Act. Those penalties – civil, not criminal – apply to abortion providers who illegally perform abortions post-24-weeks. Without the penalties, the Fetal Life Protection Act becomes unenforceable.
I won’t buy any excuses from a representative – or a governor, for that matter – who supports gutting FLPA now after supporting it when it passed in 2021. A vote to pass HB 224 will be a vote to return New Hampshire to keeping abortion effectively legal through all nine months of pregnancy.
The same batch of bills coming out of Judiciary includes, among other things, a born-alive infant protection act (HB 346-FN) and and outright repeal of FLPA (HB 271-FN).
Don’t forget the HHSEA stats and audit bills
I’m still waiting to hear what the House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs (HHSEA) committee will do on two other bills, covered on this blog in January. HB 582-FN is an abortion statistics bill, and HB 615-FN calls for audits of reproductive health facilities to ensure that public funds are not being directly used for abortion. Both bills deserve support.
All committee recommendations must go to the full House shortly, so the House will vote on both of those bills soon. They are not on the March 16 House calendar.
Leaven for the Loaf 