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FACT CHECK: Sununu Makes False Claims About Budget Process, Abortion Laws

This week Chris Sununu made multiple false claims about his ability to strip dangerous legislation from the state budget and about abortion laws in other states.


Here’s a fact check ahead of his press conference today:


ABOUT THE BUDGET


SUNUNU’S FALSEHOOD: Governor Chris Sununu falsely claimed that he was powerless to strip an abortion ban from the state budget, saying, “It is not my bill … Do you want me to scrap a $13 billion budget for this one item? I will not do that.” [Foster’s Daily Democrat, 6/16/21]


THE FACTS:SununuSaid That He Asked the Senate to Remove the House Divisive Concepts Bill From the Budget. Sununu: “I do appreciate that they took that old piece of garbage and threw it away, which we asked them to, and they couldn't even pass it and replace it with something that was more stable,” [NH Today with Chris Ryan, 6/3/21]


Senate President Chuck Morse Says “He Won’t Put Anything In the Budget That Governor Chris Sununu Won’t Support.” “The deal on HB417 - limiting the Governor's emergency powers - is in trouble. Senator Morse is saying that language might be added to HB2, but he won't put anything in the budget thatGovernor Chris Sununu won't support.” [Adam Sexton, 6/16/21]


Sununu Has Previously Vetoed Budgets That He Disagrees With. In 2019, Sununu vetoed the state budget because he disagreed with it. [NHPR, 6/28/19]


ABOUT THE ABORTION BAN:


SUNUNU’S FALSEHOOD: Massachusetts has this. I don't see the medical community screaming at Massachusetts. New York has almost the exact same law. Liberal New York and Massachusetts have the exact same type of provisions, but no one's screaming at them.Listen here.


THE FACTS: New York Allows Abortions After 24 Weeks If The Fetus Is Not Viable Or To Protect the Patient's Life or Health. According to the text of New York’s Reproductive Health Act, “A health care practitioner licensed, certified, or authorized under title eight of the education law, acting within his or her lawful scope of practice, may perform an abortion when, according to the practitioner's reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient's case: the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient's life or health.” [New York State Senate, 1/9/19]


Massachusetts Allows Abortions After 24 Weeks To Preserve the Physical or Mental Health of the Patient Or If The Fetus Is Not Viable. According to section 12N of the Massachusetts general laws on abortion, “If a pregnancy has existed for 24 weeks or more, no abortion may be performed except by a physician and only if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the life of the patient, if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health or, in the best medical judgment of the physician, an abortion is warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.” [Massachusetts General Laws]


Ultrasounds Are Not Mandatory in Massachusetts or New York. According to the Guttmacher Institute, Massachusetts and New York do not require mandatory ultrasounds. [Guttmacher Institute, 6/1/21]


New Hampshire’s Abortion Ban Does Not Include Exceptions For Fatal Fetal Anomalies, Has Only Narrow Exceptions for the Mother’s Life, and Mandates Ultrasounds. According to the abortion ban amendment in the state budget, “Based on the state’s interest in protecting fetal life, to prohibit abortions at or after 24 weeks gestation, except in cases of a medical emergency. (b) To define “medical emergency” to encompass “significant health risks,” namely those circumstances in which a pregnant woman’s life or a major bodily function is threatened ... Except in the case of a medical emergency as specifically defined in paragraph III, no abortion shall be performed, induced, or attempted by any health care provider unless a health care provider has first made a determination of the probable gestational age of the fetus. In making such a determination,the health care provider shall conduct an obstetric ultrasound examination of the patient for the purpose of making the determination.” [New Hampshire General Court, HB2, 6/16/21]


35 States Do Not Mandate Ultrasounds. According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 15 states mandate that an abortion provider perform an ultrasound on a patient while 35 states do not. [Guttmacher Institute, 6/1/21]


Sununu’s Abortion Ban Would Mandate Ultrasounds. According to the abortion ban amendment in the state budget, “Except in the case of a medical emergency as specifically defined in paragraph III, no abortion shall be performed, induced, or attempted by any health care provider unless a health care provider has first made a determination of the probable gestational age of the fetus. In making such a determination,the health care provider shall conduct an obstetric ultrasound examination of the patient for the purpose of making the determination.” [New Hampshire General Court, HB2, 6/16/21]

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