Senate Republicans Confirm Their Anti-Woman, Anti-Choice Agenda by Rejecting Rights to Abortion
Contact Name: Marina Altschiller
Phone: (603) 271-3207
CONCORD – Today, Senate Republicans confirmed that they are on the warpath against women and reproductive rights when they rejected an amendment that would have affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion prior to 24 weeks. 24 weeks, which is an arbitrary number chosen by extremist conservatives, was the number of weeks after which Republicans chose to ban abortion rights earlier in the day.
After the vote, Deputy Senate Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua) issued the following statement:
“The language of this amendment was simple: Beyond the extreme restrictions inserted into the budget by Senate Republicans earlier today, this amendment would have ensured that there shall be no further infringement in state law on a woman’s right to decide whether or not she can carry a pregnancy to term. By rejecting it, Senate Republicans have finally laid to rest any question as to where they stand on women’s rights: They’re coming for them.
The overwhelming majority of Granite Staters agree that women have a fundamental right to bodily integrity and autonomy, and support her right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy. To attempt to limit individual rights is not only an attempt to force the views of the minority on the rest, it is antithetical to who we are as a state. It is a small group of people in power forcing their personal beliefs on others and dictating what others can and cannot do with their bodies. While I have respect for those who feel differently about this issue, their views are just that: their own. I would encourage them to let their views and beliefs dictate their own lives and stop forcing themselves on others. We need to distinguish between faith and fact.
The decision to end a pregnancy is an essential element of a woman’s right to autonomy and bodily integrity. While it cannot be an easy decision, the choice must be hers alone to make, in consultation with her health care provider. By using state law to deny women the right to autonomy over their own bodies, Republicans are turning New Hampshire into a state in which women’s decisions over their own bodies are controlled by legislators unqualified to make them.
While I am disappointed by my Republican colleagues’ vote today, I am not surprised. My hope is that their vote today speaks volumes to their constituents. They can no longer claim to be even vaguely pro-choice. They have shown their true colors. Theirs is an extremist agenda, and their goal is to afford women zero rights to their own bodies. This is indeed the Live Free or Die State, unless you are a woman.”
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