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CV NEWS FEED // The New Hampshire House of Representatives has blocked pro-life legislation that would have banned abortion after 15 weeks.
House Bill 476’s sponsor, Rep. Katy Peternel, a Republican, made the motion to withdraw the bill, citing “a flaw in the bill that prevents us from moving forward in a logical, reasonable, or obvious way,” according to a Feb. 10 report from LiveAction.
Currently, the state allows abortion up until 24 weeks. On Feb. 6, the House voted 340-15 to withdraw the bill.
“Without consensus among the pro-life organizations across New Hampshire, this bill does not have the broad support it needs to advance successfully out of committee,” Peternel said.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who flipped from pro-life to pro-abortion when she announced her bid for office, said in her inaugural address in January, “[I]f you send me legislation that further restricts access to abortion beyond our current law, I will veto it.”
Ayotte had a pro-life record as New Hampshire’s Attorney General, and as a US senator, she repeatedly voted for pro-life legislation, including efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. However, when she announced her bid for state governor, she stated that she would not change the state’s abortion laws.
The governor said the Supreme Court turned the issue back to the states and that New Hampshire passed a law that allows women to have an abortion through six months of pregnancy, noting exceptions in the final three months. Ayotte added that she would protect this law and and never alter it.
“And if Washington tries to tell New Hampshire what to do, I will fight Washington because I believe that this is a state issue, that New Hampshire should decide this issue,” she said, “and we should have a New Hampshire solution to an issue I understand people feel strongly about.”
