House Bars Contracts With Abortion Providers

The New Hampshire House voted 207-147 today to pass a bill to prohibit the state from entering into any contract with any organization that provides abortions. The amended bill, with the amendment being co-written by House Speaker William O'Brien, calls for "prohibiting the use of public funds for abortion services."

Democrats said it would jeopardize health care for thousands of women in New Hampshire. State Rep. Christopher Serlin, D-Portsmouth, opined on Twitter that the bill has "clearly unconstitutional language."

Rep. James MacKay, the Democratic leader on the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, noted that no state or federal funds are now used for abortion or related services. In a statement, he said,

“The Northern New England affiliate of Planned Parenthood has a staff who practice at the highest levels of professional and ethical standards. In 2010 about sixteen thousand clients - women, men and families - received critical health care services from Planned Parenthood NNE. Planned Parenthood Health Centers in Manchester, Keene, West Lebanon, Claremont, Derry, Exeter and Portsmouth provided health services to many who are of low income, uninsured or do not qualify for Medicaid. Passage of this legislation will place many women in jeopardy of losing their health care.”

Republicans, led by House Speaker William O'Brien, R-Mont Vernon, overturned a committee recommendation that the bill be defeated. O'Brien said in a statement:

"The state should be sending a clear message that taxpayers should not be funding abortions, and this bill does just that. The majority of people agree that regardless of individual beliefs taxpayers should not be forced to contribute to the largest abortion provider in America when so many are diametrically religiously and morally opposed to the practice of abortions."

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, R-Salem, added:

"In these difficult economic times when we have been forced to deeply cut budgets, taxpayers should not be forced to fund any capable of funding themselves. In 2009, Planned Parenthood reported a profit of $21.7 million. In 2010, they reported a profit of $5.6 million. They claim economic hardship has forced them to turn away patients in need of prescriptions, yet their CEO last year made three times the salary of our governor. The organization has also spent nearly $700,000 on public affairs, over $151,000 on lobbying legislators and almost $450,000 on 'improving their branding.' They even had enough money to transfer more than $200,000 over to their Political Action Committee."

Jennifer Frizzell, senior policy advisor with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said the legislation would defund health care services at her organization, the largest provider of reproductive health care serves in the state. She said in a press release issued after the vote:

"For many New Hampshire women, Planned Parenthood is the only affordable option for health care. This legislation puts at risk basic access to cost-effective, preventive services such as cancer screenings, breast exams, access to birth control and other disease prevention services."

"We are deeply troubled that after the House HHS Committee conducted a thoughtful review of the legislation and determined by a strong vote of 12 - 5 that the legislation was harmful and should be defeated, the House leadership callously disregarded the Committee work and crammed through an amendment that hadn't even had a public hearing."