Fall 2020 40 Days for Life begins September 23

The next 40 Days for Life campaign will begin on Wednesday, September 23, in 588 cities around the world. New Hampshire campaigns are in Manchester outside Planned Parenthood’s Pennacook Street office, and in Greenland outside the Lovering Health Center.

40DFL is a twice-a-year coordinated campaign to end abortion through three actions: prayer and fasting; community outreach; and peaceful public witness (prayer vigil) outside abortion facilities.

Signups for vigil hours are available online. All volunteers must agree to 40DFL’s Statement of Peace. Each campaign has its own newsletter for updating participants. The campaigns’ websites outline COVID-prevention measures for participants, including social distancing during vigils.

Abortions go on during the pandemic, so 40DFL keeps going, too.

For the Manchester campaign: 40daysforlife.com/manchester

For the Greenland campaign: 40daysforlife.com/greenland

Justice Ginsburg, RIP

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87 after a long period of declining physical health. She had long been the Court’s most outspoken and passionate defender of abortion.

She’s in the hands of a merciful God. Perhaps she’s now picking up the thread of a conversation with her fellow Justice and firm friend, the late Antonin Scalia.

I can’t think of any judicial figure who has done more over the past couple of decades to inspire me and spur me on. She wouldn’t quit. She was awesomely, incredibly tenacious. I’ll carry an indelible memory of her in the news, in robes and lacy jabot, gaunt from cancer but sharp of wit and mind.

She constantly, implacably rejected the right to life even as she promoted what by her lights were the rights of women. It’s one of history’s great ironies that she’ll go down as a women’s rights advocate, when her advocacy was clearly based on the assumption that no human being, male or female, had a right to live until granted one by someone else.

Even so, I think pro-life activists can learn from her.

Don’t live behind an intellectual or emotional moat. Have a life. Love your family. Cherish your friends.

Don’t let anyone else tell you you’re wrong when you know perfectly well there’s injustice going on.

Speak and write intelligently, persuasively, and without apology. That’s “and,” not “or.”

Don’t expect anyone to fight your battles for you. It’s fine and necessary, however, to cultivate allies to fight your battles with you.

Persist. Then persist some more.

A tall order, perhaps, but Justice Ginsburg was up for it. Can anyone defending life settle for less?

Veto sustained: abortion insurance mandate bill fails

The New Hampshire House has sustained Governor Chris Sununu’s veto of HB 685, which would have created an abortion insurance mandate applicable to certain health insurance policies.

The vote on the veto override attempt was 195-139, well short of the two-thirds majority required for override. (“Yea” indicated support for the override; “Nay” indicated support for the Governor’s veto.)

The vote broke down along party lines. One Republican (Skip Rollins, R-Newport) joined 194 Democrats in supporting the override. Democrats Barbara Shaw (D-Manchester) and Mark Vallone (D-Epping) joined 137 Republicans in voting to sustain the veto.

Pro and Con

Rep. Rebecca McBeath (D-Portsmouth), speaking to colleagues before the override vote, said “abortion care is an essential procedure for women’s health.” In 2019 McBeath voted against collecting and reporting abortion statistics as a public health measure – something that 47 other states do. Further, Rep. McBeath has not taken any steps I know of to require New Hampshire abortion providers to have any medical training.

Rep. McBeath cited the new privacy amendment to the state constitution as another reason for overturning the veto. I wrote about that amendment before it came to a vote in 2018, warning how it could be misused by abortion advocates.

Given a chance to make a brief statement in favor of sustaining the Governor’s veto, Rep. Kim Rice (R-Hudson) reminded her colleagues that HB 685 would have put New Hampshire afoul of a federal law (the Weldon amendment), thereby costing the state millions of dollars.

In his veto message, Governor Sununu cited the Weldon Amendment as one reason for his action. He went on to say, “This legislation is unnecessary, and would threaten the State’s ability to receive federal funding for our many healthcare programs in the middle of a global pandemic. The vast majority of the commercially insured in New Hampshire already have coverage of abortion services. The legislation also raises constitutional concerns by forcing employers who morally object to offering coverage that violates their religious tenets.”

Edited to add link to House roll call vote.

House, Senate to consider veto override on September 16

The New Hampshire House will meet on Wednesday, September 16, to consider bills vetoed by Governor Chris Sununu. Among those bills is HB 685, the abortion insurance mandate.

A two-thirds vote in House and Senate is required for an override. If the House overrides a veto in its 10 a.m. session, the Senate will take it up at its own session at noon.

What will the question be?

The motion on HB 685 will be a question: Notwithstanding the Governor’s veto, shall HB 685 become law?

A Yes vote will be in support of the abortion insurance mandate and opposed to the veto. If two-thirds of House members and two-thirds of Senators vote to support the override, HB 685 will become law.

A No vote will be in opposition to the mandate and in support of the veto. That’s the one I’ll be cheering for.

How do I reach my legislators?

Look up information for your House members on the General Court website, gencourt.state.nh.us. You can search by town or by legislator’s name.

Look up House members

Look up Senate members

A brief, clear, courteous message to sustain the Governor’s veto of HB 685 could help prevent the abortion insurance mandate from becoming law.

Are the veto override sessions open to the public?

House and Senate are still operating under COVID restrictions. There is no announced public access except as described below. However, the sessions will be live-streamed so the public can monitor the proceedings online.

According to the House Calendar, the lounge of the Whittemore Center will be open to the public during the session. This is in a separate area from the arena floor where the House will be meeting.

According to a tweet from the House Clerk, the House livestream will be available at 10 a.m. on September 16 at nhhouse.edifymultimedia.com.

The Senate session livestream will be available at noon on September 16 at http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00286/Harmony/en/View/Calendar/20200916/-1

In order to allow for social distancing, the House will meet at the Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham and the Senate will meet in Representatives Hall at the State House in Concord.

Does the recent primary election affect the veto session?

No. The 2019-20 legislators will remain in office until Organization Day in early December following November’s general election.

Edited to provide link to House livestream.

Primary election: September 8

Welcome to September of an even-numbered year – which means there’s a primary election coming in New Hampshire. On Tuesday, September 8, New Hampshire voters from both major parties will make the choices that we’ll see reflected on the general election ballot in November.

Don’t just rely on the clusters of signs at every intersection in town. Do some homework and head to the polls with a purpose.

What voters need to know

Your town or city clerk’s office will be able to point you to everything you need to know about the election: a sample ballot, where to vote, the hours the polls are open, absentee ballot procedure, same-day registration procedure. Even if your town hall has limited public hours due to COVID restrictions, you can learn a lot through a phone call or a visit to your town’s website.

The New Hampshire Secretary of State website is another good source for information. Look for the “elections” drop-down menu at sos.nh.gov. Printable sample ballots for each town are available there, too, for Democrats and for Republicans.

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