Reproductive rights advocates have won a pair of victories in the N.H. House Judiciary Committee on abortion-related measures.
The panel voted 13-4 on Wednesday against House Bill 1590, which would tighten the state’s restriction on abortion by prohibiting the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Legislation that went into effect in 2022 now prohibits most abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in New Hampshire. A separate criminal code adopted in 2018 allows someone who attacks a woman to be charged with murder for the death of her fetus if it is at least 20 weeks old.
The Judiciary Committee also voted 9-8 on Friday against House Bill 1416, which would block the state from tightening the regulation of pregnancy resource centers, including one in Keene. These centers provide support for pregnant women, but that help does not include providing abortions.
Supporters of HB 1416 acknowledged that there is no attempt being made by the state to limit these centers’ operations, but said they want to prevent government overreach that they said has occurred in other states.
Meanwhile, backers of the other measure, HB 1590, said they were trying to harmonize two laws, the one that set the 24-week standard and the code that allows a murder charge for the death of a 20-week-old fetus.
Rep. Kelley Potenza, R-Rochester, who is a co-sponsor of HB 1590, has said she wants state law to be consistent in how a fetus is considered and doesn’t regard this as an abortion bill.
“But this is going to get twisted and turned into an abortion conversation and it really shouldn’t,” she told The Sentinel before the committee vote.
She said much thought and testimony went into the establishment of the 20-week standard in the homicide law, and “it would be talking out of both sides of our mouths” if the separate, 24-week restriction is allowed to stand in the abortion law.
However, advocates for reproductive rights, including Planned Parenthood of Northern New England spokesperson Kayla Montgomery, oppose the bill.
She noted that the title of the bill says it is “an act harmonizing the age of personhood under the criminal code and the Fetal Life Protection Act.”
But Montgomery said backers of the measure are after something more than just making state law more consistent or harmonious.
“Despite the innocuous sounding title, this is an abortion ban,” she said.
Both bills will eventually be considered by the full House.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.