Blue View: Republicans’ abortion restrictions are just the beginning

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, upending 50 years of settled Constitutional protection of the right to an abortion, I thought about my mother. She worked almost her entire life at a reproductive health clinic in Concord, helping people through the abortion process from counseling to procedure.

When I was a teenager, my mother and her coworkers endured regular protests from anti-abortion activists. At best, these people protested loudly on the sidewalk, harassing people entering the clinic. At worst, they engaged in more drastic activities – filming the clinic workers, pretending to be patients and chaining themselves inside, spraying noxious chemicals into the building, and twice setting the building on fire. My mother and her coworkers endured through it all, providing desperate people with the care they needed.

Matthew Saunders

After all of that work, all of that care, and all of that risk, here we are back almost where we started. The terrible impact of the repeal of Roe is already being felt around the country: a 10-year-old rape victim forced to travel to a different state to get the care she needed; doctors afraid to treat women whose pregnancy has put their lives in jeopardy because they may run afoul of state anti-abortion laws. It will only get worse from here, as states attempt to restrict even the right to travel to another state for abortion services.

In New Hampshire, even before Roe was repealed Republicans in the House and Governor Sununu were attacking the right to choose. Sununu, our self-professed “pro-choice” Governor, signed a law banning abortions after 24 weeks, with no exception for rape or incest. That Democrats had to fight to include an exception for fatal fetal diagnoses and the life of the pregnant person gives a clear indication of where New Hampshire Republicans stand.

Recently, House Leader Jason Osborne has assured us that Republicans will not seek to further restrict abortion rights. But the actions of his colleagues in the House suggest otherwise. After the new law went into effect, House Republicans introduced bills that would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, and that would allow “prospective fathers” to prevent the person they impregnated from getting an abortion. Most notably, Republicans introduced a bill that would prohibit abortions from as early as six weeks. Ten of the eleven Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee recommended the bill “ought to pass.” It took the efforts of Democrats to prevent the bill from advancing. Despite Rep. Osbourne’s statements, all indications are that if Republicans retain or expand their majority, they will continue their attempts to chip away at what remains of the right to abortion in New Hampshire.

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Make no mistake, Republicans will not stop there. The decision in Roe has implications for the right to same-sex marriage, the right to contraception, and the right to engage in private same-sex sexual activity. I expect we will eventually see bills introduced in the New Hampshire House attempting to roll back those rights as well.

If Republicans hold or expand their majority, there are dark times ahead for the people of New Hampshire. Governor Sununu won’t take a firm stand on the side of bodily autonomy, and House Leader Osborne’s words and deeds make clear that doesn’t care about the pain and suffering his policies will inflict on the people he represents.

It is therefore urgent that this November we elect Democrats at all levels of the New Hampshire government and codify into law the rights granted under Roe and our respect for the rights of its people to make their own healthcare decisions. Let’s send a clear message to the country: New Hampshire is, and will forever remain, a pro-choice state.

Matthew Saunders is vice-chair of the Hampton Budget Committee. He is a candidate for state representative.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Blue View: Republicans’ abortion restrictions are just the beginning