Reproductive Freedom
For almost fifty (50) years we have had the protections that resulted from the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, that is, reproductive freedom was a constitutionally protected right across our entire country. With a sweep of the hand, the current extreme and activist Court, ignoring decades of precedent and the policy of stare decisis (through which precedent is honored and which every one of the sitting justices claimed s/he would follow), erased those rights and punted the issue to each of the individual states. This has created chaos across our country and women are being harmed on a daily basis. In the months since the US Supreme Court’s Hobb’s decision, just a few of the nightmare scenarios that have unfolded include:
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Ohio law insisted that a 10-year-old child carry her rapist’s fetus to term as she attended fourth-grade classes.
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Because of medically inaccurate “heartbeat” legislation, Texas is refusing to allow the removal of a fetus that has no skull and no chance of survival outside of the womb.
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Doctors, fearing criminal penalties due to the restrictions triggered by Roe’s overturning, are making patients with dangerous ectopic pregnancies wait to receive life-saving care until they are on the verge of organ failure.
Even while creating a system that increases maternal mortality rates and strips women of their ability to plan and protect their own lives, Republicans have blocked a bill in the U.S. Senate guaranteeing the right to contraception.
Republicans in New Hampshire stand poised to pass even more restrictive legislation, impeding the ability of Granite State women to retain autonomy over their own bodies. After passing the first abortion ban in the state’s history, one bill goes even further and gives a rapist the right to insist that a victim be forced to carry the pregnancy to term.
These laws are inhumane and cruel, and it is time we fight back. The New Hampshire legislature is the last line of defense for reproductive freedom in our state, and your vote can help safeguard access to healthcare, privacy, and freedom for all New Hampshire women.
I trust women to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves and their families. You can count on me to protect reproductive freedom in our state.