An attempt to get rid of a New Hampshire law that requires women to be provided with an ultrasound of her unborn baby before an abortion failed Thursday in the state House.
The pro-life measure passed last year along with a ban on late-term abortions after 24 weeks. Prior to the legislation, New Hampshire had very few restrictions on the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
WMUR News 9 reports Democrats in the state House hope to repeal the ultrasound requirement this year after Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican with a mixed record on abortion, suggested that he would support its repeal.
On Thursday, however, House Republican leaders tabled the repeal measure, according to the report. Whether lawmakers will try to resurrect it later this year is uncertain.
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Here’s more from the local news:
… it’s possible the shelving of the bill was a move to try to salvage the legislation. House Speaker Sherman Packard might have been prepared to rule the ultrasound repeal amendment non-germane to the underlying bill, shooting it down before it could even have a chance at passing.
The speaker later said he would have ruled the amendment non-germane and explained why he didn’t announce his intentions earlier.
Leading pro-life advocates in the state are not calling the vote a victory for life. Cornerstone Action informed LifeNews that the what to kill the bill was what it considers a covert action to target the state’s ban on late-term abortions after 6 months.
HB 622, an obscure house bill which had been amended by pro-abortion Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee with the intention of gutting the Fetal Life Protection Act, was voted on by the full house this past Thursday, January 6.
Had the bill passed as amended, it would have removed our pro-life law’s ultrasound requirement, rendering the law unenforceable. Cornerstone was hoping that this outcome would be thwarted by the introduction and passage of a floor amendment, one which would preserve the integrity of the Fetal Life Protection Act, by Rep. Matt Simon. Instead, the House voted to table HB 622.
While a number of pro-life Republicans voted for the tabling motion—a decision we respectfully think was strategically incorrect—so did every Democrat and every pro-abortion Republican. Democrats would not have voted unanimously for the tabling motion if it was a win for life. Instead, they have now bought time to unfairly attack and further weaken support for the Fetal Life Protection Act on terms of their own choosing. This is not good for those who support protecting the right of these late term babies to live.
Nor should you let Thursday’s vote on 622 give you a false sense of confidence. Numerous gutting and repealing bills targeting our abortion ban are coming up in both chambers. Democrats’ unanimous support for tabling was part of their long-term plan to destroy the law and return our state to unrestricted abortion up to birth. The late-term pre-born in New Hampshire are in grave danger once again and need your help now more than ever.
It is important to note, however, that even if every pro-life representative had voted against tabling, their votes would not have been enough to stop the tabling motion. It would be unproductive to continue to argue this issue within the pro-life community. We must now be forward-looking: our united focus must be on how we can work together to go on the attack to protect the Fetal Life Protection Act.
Almost all abortion facilities perform ultrasounds before abortions to determine the unborn baby’s gestational age and check for potential complications, such as an ectopic pregnancy. However, many women say they were denied the opportunity to see their unborn baby’s ultrasound before their abortions.
Ultrasound requirement laws ensure women have the opportunity to see their unborn baby’s ultrasound before going through with the abortion. In many cases, seeing their unborn baby’s image prompts women to change their minds about the abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 28 states have ultrasound requirements for abortions.
New Hampshire does not keep track of abortion numbers, so no one knows how many unborn babies are aborted in the state annually.
