Observing Religious Freedom Week, waiting for Dobbs

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’s annual Fortnight for Freedom has morphed into a quieter Religious Freedom week. Over at another website, I’ve offered some thoughts about how the week might coincide with the upcoming Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court.

I write as I await the Supreme Court’s decision in the abortion-related Dobbs case, due within days. A draft of the Dobbs opinion hostile to Roe v. Wade was leaked some weeks ago, leaving me pondering just how low we’ve set the bar for being pro-life. Nothing in the draft either states or implies that the Court is ready to recognize the fundamental right to life of all human beings from the moment of conception without regard to age, health, or condition of dependency. The draft, if it holds, dumps the “issue” back to the states. Having spent a few decades making frequent trips to New Hampshire’s State House as a citizen speaking out on the right to life, I know that such a Supreme Court decision would be a lateral move at best. 

Even so, the call is clear as I contemplate the likelihood of a Dobbs decision during a week celebrating religious liberty: prayer and action, now and always, wherever the law stands, whether or not our voices are welcomed in the public square.

Join me over at ellenkolb.com to read the rest of the post.

On the home front: what you can do today

There’s one thing every pro-life Granite Stater can do today on the public policy side of pro-life work: contact your state representatives and urge them to stand by the 24-week abortion restriction that was included in the recently-passed state budget.

Never mind what Texas is doing, or what the Supreme Court is doing, or what kind of crazy social media posts you’re seeing about abortion policy anywhere in the United States. For the moment, seeing to our own state’s business is of paramount concern.

Hard-fought gains in jeopardy

You’ll recall that earlier in 2021, the House and Senate passed a budget that included the Fetal Life Protection Act. The Governor signed the budget. While the budget itself went into effect July 1, the Fetal Life Protection Act (which I’ll refer to as the 24-week law) is scheduled to take effect next January 1.

Look at HB 2, page 14 line 14 to page 19 line 1. There’s the 24-week abortion limit.

While happy to see New Hampshire’s Wild-West abortion policy finally come to an end (or at least a scheduled end), I was unhappy that it came via a budget provision rather than as a freestanding bill. I feared that the next budget go-round two years hence would find the Fetal Life Protection Act repealed. An attorney far better versed than I in such matters assured me my fears were misplaced.

Thanks to a handful of legislators, my fears are back: the risk is not repeal in two years, but weakening or gutting of the law as early as 2022.

Beginning next Monday, September 14, New Hampshire House members will have five days to file their intent to introduce 2022 legislation. Senators will follow suit in October. These are the LSRs, or legislative service requests. Anyone who wants to revise or repeal a law can file an LSR to do so. The 24-week law is vulnerable to attack.

Where your support is most needed

Every one of your elected officials needs to know that you expect pro-life policy to be a priority. Even Democratic officeholders who are staunchly united behind unrestricted abortion ought to hear from you; don’t ever let them say they don’t know where you stand.

Conversations I’m having, though, point to Republicans as the officeholders most in need of your messages. Specifically, New Hampshire House Republicans need to know their constituents are watching the 24-week law carefully.

Yes, Republicans have the current legislative majority in Concord. However, despite state and national GOP platform planks, there are GOP reps who consider the right to life to be negotiable or secondary or irrelevant. With a narrow majority, it would only take a few GOP reps joining with Dems to undermine the 24-week law.

There are Republican reps who can be counted on to fight like tigers over the Second Amendment or taxation or the governor’s emergency powers, but who wish all this abortion business would just go away.

It won’t go away. Not a chance. Human rights – even achingly small steps towards those rights – are like that.

You don’t need to ask your GOP reps whether or not they like the 24-week law, although there could be some constructive conversations if you choose to start one. All you need to tell them is that you want them to stand by the 24-week law and refuse to water it down.

A Republican rep who is weak or uncommitted on the life issues will be vulnerable to scare tactics and misinformation by abortion advocates in both parties. You can counter that by encouraging your reps to stand by the 24-week law if an attempt is made to weaken it.

Do not look to Republican leadership or Governor Sununu to do your work for you. Print out those words and hang them on your wall for inspiration if necessary.

Contacting your House reps

Need to bookmark the House roster so you can look up your representatives? Here’s the link: who’s my legislator? You can always go to the General Court website (gencourt.state.nh.us) for information on a representative, senator, or bill. Brief phone calls are best, keeping in mind that New Hampshire reps don’t have offices and that your call will go to their cell phones or house landlines. Emails are better than nothing.

With courtesy and conviction and brevity, urge your reps to stand by the Fetal Life Protection Act as passed in HB 2. Concentrate on GOP reps, if you’re pressed for time. There’s no need to weaken the law before it goes into effect.

Why contact House members now? Because they’re going to file LSRs next week. Why House members instead of senators? Because the Senate won’t be filing LSRs until later.

New Hampshire has been a home to abortion extremism long enough. Help your reps develop the courage and confidence to move in a healthier direction.

There are plenty of headlines and noise elsewhere about what’s going on in other states. Forget all that for now. There’s work to be done here at home.

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From Cornerstone: FAQs about the Fetal Life Protection Act, Sununu Wavering on Law

From NH Journal, an op-ed by Rep. Beth Folsom (R-Wentworth): I Sponsored the Fetal Life Protection Act; Stop Lying About What’s In It

Testifying on bills: new procedures

The New Hampshire legislature is accepting public testimony only remotely on bills in 2021. No traditional hearings; no mornings spent standing in the hall of the LOB. While this prevents the face-to-face communication we’re used to at hearings, it could allow more people to promote pro-life bills by signing in online and/or participating in hearings via Zoom videoconference.

Does this matter? You bet it does. At a recent hearing in the House Education Committee, the chairman announced that about 3800 people had registered an opinion on a particular bill, by signing in electronically (the equivalent of the customary blue sheets, for those familiar with House procedure) or registering to testify online (the equivalent of pink cards). Of those 3800, about 3200 were opposed to the bill in question.

Numbers count, and they’ll make impressions on legislators. Imagine if three thousand pro-life Granite Staters were to weigh in on a life-issue bill.

All of the information below is from The New Hampshire General Court website, a great resource for anyone interested in civic engagement.

Abortion Amendment Committee Vote Wednesday, February 5

Update on CACR 14: The New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee will vote on the constitutional amendment in executive session on Wednesday, February 5, beginning at 10 a.m. in room 208 of the Legislative Office Building in Concord.

The executive session is open to the public, but it is not a public hearing and no testimony will be taken. CACR 14 is one of several bills on which the committee will vote at its 10 a.m. session. The committee’s recommendation on CACR 14 will go to the full House for a vote at a later date.

CACR 14 would amend the New Hampshire Constitution to say “[t]he right to make personal reproductive medical decisions is inviolate and fundamental to the human condition.” The right to life would not enjoy the same distinction. CACR 14 would lock abortion into the state constitution.

Through close of business on February 4, there is time to contact the House Judiciary Committee (HouseJudiciaryCommittee@leg.state.nh.us) to ask briefly, clearly, and courteously for a recommendation of Inexpedient to Legislate on CACR 14.

Hearing on Abortion Amendment January 22

Edited to correct hearing time: 1 p.m., January 22, 2020.

You’ll soon have a chance to register your opinion on a measure that would create a right to abortion protected under the New Hampshire Constitution. The House Judiciary Committee will have a hearing at 1 p.m. on January 22 in room 208 of the Legislative Office Building on CACR 14.

(Now’s a good time to look over the newest page of Leaven for the Loaf, with the information you need about giving testimony in Concord.)

The hearing has been scheduled for a room that has enough public seating for 20 people. In a pinch, if the committee in the adjacent room is not meeting, dividers can be folded back to double the size of the Judiciary room. In a real pinch, if the crowd size justifies it, the hearing can be moved to Representatives Hall.

I think a real pinch is in order.

What CACR 14 says

The text of the proposed constitutional amendment: “The right to make personal reproductive medical decisions is inviolate and fundamental to the human condition. Neither the State nor any political subdivision shall infringe upon or unduly inconvenience this right.”

If passed, this amendment would survive an overturned Roe decision. It would mean public funding of direct abortion under Medicaid and other tax-funded programs. It would mean an end to New Hampshire’s two hard-won regulations on abortion: parental notification and a ban on partial-birth abortion.

Don’t look to Governor Sununu – who identifies himself as pro-choice – to stop the measure. Constitutional amendments don’t go through the Governor’s office. If three-fifths of New Hampshire House members and three-fifths of the State Senators OK the measure, it will go on the general election ballot in November 2020. If two-thirds of the voters say yes, CACR 14 will be baked into the New Hampshire constitution.

What you can do

Show up. Get a carpool going. Announce the hearing to your life-affirming neighbors and the people at your church. Babysit for a parent who’d like to attend. Take your kids out of school for the day, and let me know if they get marked “unexcused.”

Testimony is optional. Be present. If you absolutely positively can’t make it, send your opinion of CACR 14 directly to the Judiciary Committee (email: HouseJudiciaryCommittee@leg.state.nh.us). Be brief, clear, and courteous – but don’t be silent.

The hearing will take place on the 47th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. That is not coincidental. Fortunately, the national March for Life is on the 24th this year. No one will have to choose between CACR 14 and a bus trip to Washington, DC.

Take a trip to Concord instead.