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CONCORD, NH– In case you missed it, Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy, Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwowka, Representative Amanda Elizabeth Toll, and Dr. Wayne Goldner, OBGYN met virtually this morning to discuss the upcoming 49th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, and the current attacks on reproductive rights by Republicans like Chris Sununu, Chuck Morse, and Sherman Packard. These Republican legislators are responsible for passing New Hampshire’s first abortion ban in modern New Hampshire history that has no exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomaly, and includes a mandatory ultrasound requirement and felony penalties for doctors. Speakers also discussed how every single NH Republican running for US Senate — Chuck Morse, Kevin Smith, and Don Bolduc – have extreme anti-choice records and would undoubtedly work with Mitch McConnell to impose new restrictions on abortion.
Read excerpts from their remarks here:
Councilor Cinde Warmington:
“This Saturday, the 22nd, is the 49th – and what could be the final – anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.”
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“The future of Roe v. Wade hangs by a thread, and what happens here in New Hampshire will set the tone for reproductive freedom across the country. The right to reproductive health care, enshrined into law by Roe v. Wade, is a fundamental New Hampshire value. Democrats will not stop fighting until Granite Staters’ right to family planning and reproductive health care services are protected.”
Democratic Leader Senator Donna Soucy:
“The anti-choice agenda of the NH GOP is extreme and deeply harmful to Granite Staters. While Republicans in New Hampshire are attacking our rights, my Democratic colleagues in the New Hampshire State Senate, as well as in the State House, are working tirelessly to protect the right to choose here in New Hampshire, and we will continue to do so.”
Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka:
“My legislation that is being introduced today – the Access to Abortion-care Act or SB 436 – will cement abortion rights into statute in New Hampshire. When passed into law, regardless of what happens in the US Supreme Court, abortion will remain safe, legal, and accessible in the Granite State. This legislation upholds long-held New Hampshire values by putting into law that the state cannot further interfere in the right to access abortion. It will provide critical protections to ensure that Granite State families can work with their doctors to get the health care they need in the majority of situations.”
Representative Amanda Elizabeth Toll:
“Governor Sununu may have signed the state budget that included the abortion ban, but State Senate President Chuck Morse was the architect. Senator Morse is now running for the United States Senate, and it’s clear that he would gladly work with Mitch McConnell to end Roe v. Wade, just as he gladly worked with Republicans here to shepherd the abortion ban to Governor Chris Sununu.”
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“As someone who has had an abortion, I can speak to just how important access to abortion and reproductive health care is. My abortion let me live the life I wanted to live– to go to college and grad school, to open my own business, to have a child when I was ready, and to become a state Representative who is advocating for public policy based in compassion and justice.”
Dr. Wayne Goldner, OBGYN:
“As part of my practice, I performed abortions. I have been a reproductive rights activist for many years and believe a woman’s reproductive choices are hers to make without any encumbrance by society.”
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“We are now facing the greatest legislative attacks by Republicans on reproductive rights in more than a generation. History shows woman have done abortions throughout all recorded history and limiting access does not decrease abortion. What it does is delay care, force illegal and dangerous procedures and leads to pain, suffering, maiming and death. Disproportionately affecting poor women without the resources to bypass the restrictions.”
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