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Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stiffer abortion ban bill stalls on launch pad
Jan. 27—The push to adopt a more restrictive ban on abortions failed Monday after the bill's author began a four-hour public hearing by moving to withdraw it. A few hundred people turned out at the Legislative Office Building to speak for and against the proposal to ban abortions after 15 weeks, more than two months earlier than the 24-week ban the Legislature and former Gov. Chris Sununu put in place in 2021. Rep. Katy Peternel, R-Wolfeboro, said it became clear her bill (HB 476) needed more work. "After careful review, it has become clear that there is a flaw in the bill that prevents us from moving forward in a logical, reasonable, or obvious way," Peternel said in a statement. "Without consensus among the pro-life organizations across New Hampshire, this bill does not have the broad support it needs to advance successfully out of committee." Peternel's move comes under a new House rule that makes legislation go away entirely if the full House votes to accept her bid to withdraw the bill. That vote would likely take place on Feb. 6. After the hearing, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Lynn, R-Windham, tabled the matter until Feb. 19. By then, the entire matter will be moot if the House ends consideration of the legislation in the meantime. Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, the ranking Democrat on the panel, tried without success to get Lynn to allow the committee to make a recommendation on the bill. "I cannot believe that with all the attention brought to us that the speaker and the governor do not want the bill to come before the full House, but I think we should do our job, which is to vote on the bill," Smith said. Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she would veto any legislation that went beyond the existing 24-week limit, which has exceptions which permit later-term abortions to protect the health of the mother or if the fetus has a fatal anomaly. The leadership team of House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, ran in 2024 on a "Contract with New Hampshire" platform, and one of the 10 planks was to protect the 24-week ban on abortion by opposing any changes. Powerful testimony given Despite Peternel's misgivings about her bill, many speakers urged the panel to pass it. Michael Lewis said a ban after 15 weeks would still allow 95% of abortions to take place. "Is there a three-person reality, the man, the woman and the child or is there a one-person reality with just the woman deciding to abort the child?" Lewis asked. Matthew Bean, an ordained minister from Sanbornton, likened tolerance for abortion to those who defended slavery and Nazi genocide of Jews by arguing Blacks and Jews were not "fully human." "One day these babies will win the fight for human rights; maybe not today based on what I am hearing, but one day they will," Bean said. More than a dozen obstetrician/gynecologists and pediatricians urged the panel to reject the legislation, arguing that the diagnostic tests that would reveal the fetus has significant disabilities aren't done until at least 20 weeks into pregnancy. "Abortion is a compassionate procedure for people who are facing awful, unforeseen circumstances," said Dr. Stephanie Harlow of Dartmouth-Hitchcock. "Private reproductive health care belongs with the patient and not with the Legislature," said Jinelle Hall, executive director of Equality Health Center in Concord, the state's oldest abortion clinic. More than 11,400 people signed up online in opposition to the measure while 962 endorsed it. Abortion statistics After the hearing, Lynn proposed an amendment that would have New Hampshire join the 46 states that require health care providers to report the incidence of abortion to state officials. "It doesn't sound like this is a red-state/blue-state kind of thing," Lynn said. "I basically consider myself a pro-choice person but I do support a reporting bill. I think it's appropriate to have accurate information about how many abortions are performed." Kayla Montgomery, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said her group would support an abortion statistics law. She opposed Lynn's version because a competing bill (SB 36) from state Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, would better protect patient privacy and health provider safety. "Like all laws, the devil is in the details," Montgomery said. klandrigan@
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican lawmaker pulls 15-week abortion ban proposal
Before the bill can be officially withdrawn, all of the co-sponsors must agree and the matter must go to a House floor vote. (Photo by Dana Wormald/New Hampshire Bulletin) Rep. Katy Peternel, a Wolfeboro Republican, announced Monday she was requesting to withdraw her proposed 15-week abortion ban. 'After careful review, it has become clear that there is a flaw in the bill that prevents us from moving forward in a logical, reasonable, or obvious way,' Peternel said in a statement. 'Without consensus among the pro-life organizations across New Hampshire, this bill does not have the broad support it needs to advance successfully out of committee.' House Bill 476 would've made abortion illegal in New Hampshire after 15 months of pregnancy. The bill provided exceptions for medical emergencies and fetal abnormalities. It did not include exceptions for rape or incest. 'The withdrawal of HB 476 allows the legislature to refocus its efforts on other legislation,' Peternel continued in her statement. Peternel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the bill or what flaw specifically led her to request the withdrawal. House Clerk Paul Smith said he's heard from Peternel's co-sponsors and all wish to proceed with withdrawal. Now, before the bill can be officially withdrawn, the matter must go to a House floor vote on whether to approve the withdrawal, according to Smith. However, without the support of its sponsors the bill appears extremely unlikely to advance. Abortion has been illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy since 2021, and includes exceptions for medical emergencies and fetal abnormalities. This proposal would have tightened that ban by nine weeks. Even before the withdrawal request, the proposed abortion ban faced significant obstacles to becoming law. Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said she would veto any further restrictions on abortion. In her inaugural address given to lawmakers earlier this month, Ayotte said, 'If you send me legislation that further restricts access to abortion beyond our current law, I will veto it.' Additionally, during the 2024 election season, House and Senate Republican leaders vowed they wouldn't pass any additional abortion restrictions.
Boston Globe
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Sponsors of 15-week abortion bill in N.H. ask to withdraw their proposal, citing unspecified ‘flaw' in the bill
'After careful review, it has become clear that there is a flaw in the bill that prevents us from moving forward in a logical, reasonable, or obvious way,' Peternel said in a statement House Republicans released promptly, without specifying the nature of the flaw. Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up 'Without consensus among the pro-life organizations across New Hampshire, this bill does not have the broad support it needs to advance successfully out of committee,' Peternel added. Advertisement Republican Representative Robert J. Lynn of Windham, who chairs the committee, said a bill can be withdrawn at this stage only when all co-sponsors agree to do so and the full House votes to approve the withdrawal. Since that process cannot be completed until Feb. 6 at the soonest, the hearings on Monday would proceed as planned, he said. The committee then heard New Hampshire House Clerk Paul C. Smith said all the sponsors of HB 476 contacted him before the public hearing began Monday, so under House rules the request to withdraw the bill will be listed on the consent calendar for the next session day. Representative Alexis Simpson of Exeter, the Democratic minority leader in the House, said Republicans moved to withdraw the bill after seeing that more than 11,000 people had used the committee's 'But even that didn't stop a member of their leadership from testifying in favor of the ban,' she said. Advertisement If the GOP didn't want to 'strip away your rights,' then their members in the House wouldn't have introduced this 15-week abortion bill in the first place, Simpson said. 'Make no mistake, New Hampshire Republicans are determined to roll back your reproductive freedoms — if not today, then in the very near future,' she said. Even before Peternel announced plans to withdraw HB 476, there was already a move afoot from a fellow Republican to change everything about the legislation. Lynn, who served previously as chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, sponsored an amendment that would convert HB 476 into a proposal to require the state to collect and report abortion statistics. Instead of imposing abortion restrictions earlier in pregnancy, Lynn's amendment would require health care providers to fill out a form to document the 'induced terminations of pregnancy' they perform each month, with information about the patient's age, the estimated gestational age of the fetus, whether the patient had used contraception, and confidential numbers linked to the identity of the patient and the health care provider or facility. Those who oppose the collection of such sensitive health data — lawmakers have The committee's agenda called for a public hearing on Peternel's original bill, followed by a public hearing on Lynn's proposed amendment. The committee, on which Republicans hold a Advertisement There is also a separate proposal on abortion data collection, There are several other abortion-related proposals on the legislative docket this session as well, including these: A version of this story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you'd like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, Steven Porter can be reached at
