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In case you missed it, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, State Senator Dr. Tom Sherman, Dalia Vidunas, Executive Director at Equality Health Center, and NHDP Executive Committee Member Stefany Shaheen gathered this morning for a virtual press conference to discuss Republicans’ plan to ban abortion nationwide if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. On Saturday, USA Today reported that Mitch McConnell announced that it is “possible” that Republicans will push a nationwide abortion ban if they retake the Senate majority in November. While Republicans in Washington are pushing for a nationwide abortion ban, Governor Chris Sununu refused to say that he would block further restrictions on abortion in New Hampshire if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, making it clear that New Hampshire Republicans will help push Washington Republicans’ extreme, anti-choice agenda.
Read key excerpts here: Stefany Shaheen, NHDP Executive Committee Member: “It’s sort of astonishing that we have Samuel Alito, Mitch McConnell, Chris Sununu, and Chuck Morse deciding what’s going to happen to our bodies. Not acceptable, and not a world we want to be back in. … “Ultimately, we’ve heard what Mitch McConnell has said. He said unequivocally that if Republicans take back control of the U.S. Senate that they’re going to do everything they can to enact a restrictive abortion ban. This is not acceptable, and we will not go back. We need to stand up, we need to step forward, and we need to say ‘Not in New Hampshire, not in the United States of America will women’s reproductive rights be challenged in this way.’” State Senator Dr. Tom Sherman: “Just last week, my colleagues in the Senate proposed legislation to actually codify Roe v. Wade in New Hampshire, but Republicans, once again, voted against the best interests of Granite Staters and failed to pass the legislation.” … “[Sununu] has already shown the women of New Hampshire that he can’t be trusted to stand up for them. Just last year, he signed a budget that had an abortion ban that criminalizes doctors, mandates invasive ultrasounds, and has no exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies. He had no problem vetoing a budget in 2019 with increased education funding and even property tax relief for Granite Staters, but now he says he had to sign this most recent budget, even though it held the first abortion ban in our state’s modern history.” Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington: “With the continual attacks on our reproductive rights by Republicans in Washington, it’s more important than ever to elect Democrats up and down the ballot this November to protect our freedom here in New Hampshire. It’s no secret that Republicans in the State House have engaged relentless – relentless – attacks on our right to make our own health care decisions. At the Executive Council, we have seen Governor Sununu’s handpicked Republican councilors vote to confirm Gordon MacDonald, a lifelong, anti-choice activist to lead our state’s supreme court and vote repeatedly to defund Planned Parenthood and other family planning centers, including Equality Health Center, and deny thousands of women access to quality, affordable health care. Sununu cannot spin this.” Dalia Vidunas, Executive Director at Equality Health Center: “New Hampshire is already suffering from a shortage of medical practitioners. If you were a medical practitioner, would you choose to work in a state when there are laws out there that threaten jail time for following evidence-based practices?” … “The threat to reproductive freedom in New Hampshire has never been greater, and that is a reality for all women across our state, and it’s a really terrifying one, because I have no doubt that the threats to women’s reproductive freedoms here in New Hampshire will grow if Republicans retain a majority next year. If given another term, we can all but guarantee that Governor Sununu and the Republicans will continue to push their anti-choice agenda as hard as they can, and they will continue to lie about it.”