Summary

• The pro-life movement in New Hampshire faced challenges with HB476, a 15-week abortion restriction, due to problematic wording and lack of discussion.

• This statement aims to correct misrepresentations of NHRTL’s position & actions.

• NHRTL supports withdrawal of HB476 so that the bill could be raised next year without the problematic wording.

• Moving forward, we have strong hope! The pro-life community needs to forgive, heal, pray, unify and strengthen our efforts so we can protect women and children from abortion.

NHRTL’s Perspective

The pro-life movement began this legislative session with low expectations. After all, the Republican messaging had not been encouraging. The good news was we had gained a few seats in the House and Senate.

At a December pro-life messaging training, everyone felt we should have a 15-week abortion regulation bill this term even though the Governor had promised to veto it. The discussion was general: no specific text or talk of when.

Enter HB476, filed in the last hours of the filing period with no consultation among pro-life groups. Many were excited to have it now; others thought it better to wait until next year. Even so, we all jumped onto the bandwagon we knew would be needed to get a good floor vote.

A week or two before the scheduled House hearing, the text became available to us and the public at the same time. NHRTL was stunned to find wording unrelated to the core of the bill and its potential damage to the pro-life movement. The text says (emphasis added) “All abortions are legal in New Hampshire before 15 weeks gestational age. No regulatory or law enforcement agency has the authority to penalize a health care provider for performing an abortion except as specifically provided in RSA chapter 329.”

Our assessment was that the bolded text could provide an abortionist a way to escape accountability for breaking any law outside of RSA 329, including negligence, ignoring the parental notification law, not reporting suspected child abuse, perhaps even forced abortion. We’ve confirmed this concern with multiple senior attorneys, including 2 former NH judges.

After days of intense discussion our only public position was to support the bill with an amendment to remove the problematic text, a common practice in the legislature.

NHRTL has always taken a very hard look at bill wording with one eye toward purity of principle and the other toward passage. We stood alone opposing a Parental Consent law and fought hard for our current Parental Notification law. We supported the Fetal Homicide law with necessary language clarifying that it was not an abortion ban. We found the language in HB476 unnecessary and potentially dangerous, so we took the middle road of asking for an amendment.

Hearing day (Jan 27): We found out that the bill was being withdrawn less than one hour before the hearing. We thought the bill was dead, so there would be no hearing. Since many faithful pro-lifers take time off work, find baby sitters, or drive long distances to testify, we felt obliged to let people know.

This bill is not the beginning or end of the pro-life movement in NH. God is in control. We’ve been in the wilderness before. Republicans need to understand that over 60% of NH voters support a 15-week threshold. There are many good pro-life bills in the NH House right now, and there will be more.

Moving forward, we need to heal and unify. We believe the pro-life movement in NH will come out of this experience stronger than before: able to communicate better, work together, and resolve conflict by consulting directly with one another to avoid spreading rumors (Matthew 18:15-20).

Please pray that God would bring healing, reconciliation, and growth within the pro-life movement.

We’re hopeful this will clarify NHRTL’s commitment to protecting all human life without compromise, and we pray that God would use this as a growth opportunity for the pro-life movement in the Granite State.

NHRTL supports withdrawal of the bill.

In its current form, HB476 would not serve as a good test for legislators, because many pro-life legislators we have spoken with are unable to vote for the bill due to its flaws. It’s hard to see how this bill could be amended now that the bill has no sponsors or co-sponsors.

Withdrawal preserves the ability to introduce a bill next year with language that all pro-lifers can support. If withdrawal is denied and the bill receives an ITL vote (a near-certainty given that the pro-life movement is divided), then the bill cannot be re-introduced into the House next year due to House rules.

We thank Rep Katy Peternel (the bill’s sponsor) and the cosponsors for their bravery and passion to protect children.