House votes to gut Fetal Life Protection Act

The New Hampshire House has passed HB 224 on a 205-178 roll call, sending to the Senate a bill stripping penalties from the Fetal Life Protection Act and thus rendering FLPA useless. Governor Sununu has indicated he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

The Senate hasn’t scheduled a hearing on HB 224 yet, but that doesn’t matter: contact your senator now. The Senate must stop HB 224 so it never reaches the Governor’s desk.

We have a governor who wants to be able to say he signed New Hampshire’s first abortion rollback in a quarter century – hey, look at me! I’m moderate, not an extremist! – while also rendering that rollback unenforceable. Unregulated induced abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy would once again be state policy, if the governor were to sign HB 224, or even if he were to let the bill become law without his signature. He would be able to tout “moderation” in appearance while being an abortion extremist in practice.

That asinine political gamesmanship will only be called off if the Senate kills HB 224.

The House roll call on the vote is at this link (go to left side of that web page and click under “House roll calls”). Motion was “ought to pass,” so a “yea” vote was a vote to remove penalties from FLPA. All the Democrats present voted Yea, while 16 Republicans joined them. And by the way, the chief sponsor of HB 224 was a Republican.

Repeat after me: pro-life is not spelled G-O-P. Every single senator, regardless of party, needs to hear from constituents on this. The governor is enormously influential with his fellow Republicans. Those Republicans need to be reminded whom they were elected to serve.

There will be a Senate hearing on HB 224 at some point. I’ll report once that’s on the schedule. That will be a good day to take off work, bring the kids, carpool with your friends, tell your pro-life friends in neighboring states what’s going on, and show up for however long it takes to look those five Senate committee members in the eye and tell them you are NOT okay with HB 224.

For its encore, House voted to declare abortion “vital to the equality and liberty of all individuals”

HB 88, the counterpart to SB 181 recently killed by the Senate, was passed by the House today, 199-185. That one was on a division vote, not a roll call, so no rep’s name is associated with a vote. HB 88, titled “relative to reproductive rights,” would prohibit abortion regulations other than the ones already on the books. Right now, FLPA is on the books, with a 24-week abortion limit. If the governor signs HB 224 removing penalties from FLPA, nothing will prevent the performance of abortion at any point in pregnancy. HB 88 calls abortion “vital to the equality and liberty of all individuals,” in case there’s any doubt about the extremism behind the bill.

Ah, but the Senate will kill it, you might be thinking. I do not share such optimism. The Senate killed SB 181, but HB 88 gives the abortion advocates another bite at the apple. If only three senators flip their votes, HB 88 will pass.

Outright repeal of FLPA, HB 271, failed today on a tie vote and was then tabled. (Yes, it was that close.) The threatened constitutional amendment, CACR 2, didn’t come close to the 60% support it needed. As I write this, it’s midday and the House still has its afternoon session ahead, with more votes to come. I’ll edit this post as needed.

Links to roll calls and vote information

The General Court website is the source for this information. I’ve listed the two bills featured in this post first, followed by the rest of the life-issue bills I’ve reported on so far this session. Each bill has its own information page on the General Court website; to find out who voted how, look at the left side of the bill’s page and click underneath “House Roll Calls.” Note that for division and voice votes, there are no names associated with the votes and therefore there’s no roll call.

HB 224, to repeal penalties on late-term-abortion providers under the Fetal Life Protection Act (FLPA), : the vote was 205-178 on an “Ought to Pass” motion. A Yea vote was a vote to expand abortion by making FLPA unenforceable.

HB 88, as described above, was killed via division vote rather than a roll call. Representatives thus avoided being held accountable for their votes on this bill.

CACR 2, a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion in the state constitution: the vote was 193-191 on an “Ought to Pass” motion, which is short of the 60% required for a constitutional amendment to pass the House. A Yea vote was a vote to make abortion constitutionally protected.

HB 271, to repeal FLPA altogether: the bill was tabled on a voice vote after an “Ought to Pass” motion was defeated on a tie vote, 192-192. A Yea on the “Ought to Pass” motion was a vote to repeal New Hampshire’s 24-week abortion limitation and thus keep abortion unregulated throughout pregnancy.

HB 582, abortion statistics, was killed on a division vote: 205-177 on an “Inexpedient to Legislate” motion.

HB 591, a “heartbeat bill: prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, was defeated on a 271-110 vote on an “Inexpedient to Legislate” motion.

HB 615, requiring independent audits of “reproductive health facilities” to ensure that no public funds are used for abortion, was tabled on a division vote, 354-29, effectively killing the bill.

The following bills were killed on voice votes (no roll call, no count) on “Inexpedient to Legislate” motions: HB 346, a born-alive infant protection bill, and HB 562, informed consent for abortion;

Attempt to override buffer zone veto coming on September 15

Don’t let this get lost in the pile of messages you’re receiving about the primary election: The New Hampshire House will meet on September 15 for “Veto Day,” taking up the eight bills vetoed by Gov. Chris Sununu this year. Among them is HB 1625, repeal of the unenforced “buffer zone” law designed to restrict the First Amendment rights of peaceful pro-life witnesses outside abortion facilities.

A two-thirds majority is required to overturn a veto. If the House overturns the veto, the Senate will then attempt an override. Both chambers are meeting at 1 p.m. on September 15.

Note that Veto Day comes two days after the state’s primary election. If your representative happens to be defeated that day, he or she will still be in office until next December and will therefore be able to vote on Veto Day.

Look up your representatives’ names and contact information: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/

When you send your message to OVERTURN the veto of HB 1625, remember that your reps will be hearing from many people. Keep it short and to the point. If you email your rep, make sure your subject line has the relevant information, since that might be all that gets read. For example: “From a constituent: overturn HB 1625 veto.”

HB 1625 passed the House narrowly last March, 168-162, with every Democrat present voting against the bill and all but ten Republicans voting for it.

Governor Sununu in his veto message said, “In the eight years since this law was originally enacted, we know of no instance where an individual or group has been harmed by it. As a result, I am not looking to make any changes at
this time.” He has no problem with keeping on the books a law that’s based on one overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Update: The House sustained the Governor’s veto. The vote to override the veto failed, 145-175. The 152 Democrats who cast a vote all voted to sustain the veto; they were joined by 23 Republicans.

An earlier post about HB 1625: Three reasons for Governor Sununu to sign buffer zone repeal (still relevant as reasons to override his veto). I had a few things to say after the veto, too.

Fetal Life Protection Act now has an exception

In the Governor’s Friday afternoon news dump just before Memorial Day weekend, we learned that he has quietly signed HB 1609, which adds an exception for “fetal anomalies incompatible with life” – i.e. a eugenic exception – to New Hampshire’s 24-week abortion limitation, the Fetal Life Protection Act (FLPA).

The bill also includes clarification of FLPA’s ultrasound language. That particular provision was already passed via Governor Sununu’s recent signing of HB 1673, however, making that part of HB 1609 superfluous.

Take a moment to revisit this blog’s post “A door that shouldn’t be opened” in which I quoted the public policy director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester: “This would be the first time New Hampshire would designate a particular category of children to be liable for abortion, and that’s a door we don’t think the state should open.”

He was right, even if his words fell on deaf ears.

Governor Sununu gets one right

I take Governor Chris Sununu to task now and again, and he seems determined to keep giving me ample material. When he gets something right, I ought to give him a nod.

Without ceremony, he recently signed a pile of more than fifty bills. Somewhere in that pile was HB 576, expanding eligibility for access to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s victims’ compensation fund. Now, survivors of juvenile sex trafficking will be allowed an extended period of time to make a claim on the fund.

I wrote recently about Darlene Pawlik’s testimony in favor of the bill. A survivor herself, she urged legislators to get behind the measure. “Having access to the victims compensation fund could be more than just a way for a young person to have expenses paid for….It is the fact that people cared enough to set up such a fund which really makes a difference.”

The bill was held over from the 2021 legislative session. The six sponsors, led by Rep. Linda Massimilla (D-Littleton), had to keep this one on their colleague’s radar in the middle of 2022’s new crush of bills. Persistence paid off.

The final legislative report on HB 576 was written by Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry): “This bill will amend the provisions of the Victims’ Compensation Fund by permitting claims for victims of human trafficking to be filed at anytime and eliminating the consideration of contributory negligence in claims based on sexual abuse or human trafficking. The passage of this bill will recognize the long-term victimization and ramifications that occur as a result of this type of abuse, giving victims the time they need to come to terms with their trauma without. deadline for claims looming over their recovery.”

Quick passage of HB 576 should have been a no-brainer, but sometimes the legislative process creaks a bit. Seeing this bill get over the finish line is immensely satisfying. I had the pleasure of playing a small role by working with the bill’s chief sponsor, with whom I may never again agree politically – but whose advocacy for trafficked kids comes straight from the heart.

Anticipating Senate vote, Sununu says he’d veto buffer zone repeal

According to Union Leader State House reporter Kevin Landrigan, Governor Chris Sununu has said he would veto the buffer-zone repeal bill if it reaches his desk. That bill, HB 1625, is scheduled for a Senate vote on Thursday, May 5. I’ll be watching to see if normally pro-life and pro-First-Amendment senators vote against the bill after they’ve heard the veto threat.

The report follows Sununu’s remarks earlier this week in the wake of the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion in the Dobbs case that he remains “pro-choice.” On his official website, he has posted the following statement: “As a pro-choice governor, I am committed to upholding Roe v. Wade, which is why I am proud of the bipartisan bill headed to my desk this year that expands access. So long as I am governor, these health care services for women will remain safe and legal.”

The “bipartisan” bill to which Sununu was referring is HB 1609, which adds a eugenics exception to the Fetal Life Protection Act (FLPA), New Hampshire’s recently-enacted 24-week abortion limitation.