Women’s reproductive health is under attack by Republicans. The four Republicans of the Executive Council have essentially pulled the rug out from under family healthcare providers by voting down the contracts which would provide funding for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Lovering Health Center on the Seacoast and Equality Health Center in Concord.
Those facilities provide birth control, STD testing and treatment, pap smears and other routine care to about 15,000 low-income Granite Staters annually. They also provide abortion services, but none of the money under the contracts would be used to directly fund abortions. But that doesn’t matter to the Republicans because the funds may indirectly fund abortions through the payment of rent and electricity for the buildings in which the abortions are performed.
Gov. Sununu did nothing to prevent this vote from occurring. Despite claiming to be “pro-choice” his actions belie his words. In the spring, Sununu signed into law a ban on abortions after 24 weeks and mandated that all women have an expensive and invasive ultrasound before any legal abortion (for women who choose abortion in the early stages of pregnancy, they will be required to have a transvaginal ultrasound to determine gestational age, which is an invasive procedure). Now funding is being stripped from family health care clinics, denying access to basic health care for thousands of people.
The Republicans are so short-sighted they cannot see that their actions are impacting the broader public. If women cannot get access to family planning and birth control, the result will be unwanted pregnancies that affect the parents, children and the whole community, placing an unnecessary financial burden on society.
Despite the fact that 66% of Granite Staters believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, Republicans insist on waging war against women’s reproductive health. It is a disgrace. This continued attack on abortion is blatantly unconstitutional and must become a clarion call for people to rise up and defeat the anti-choice, anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-healthcare Republicans. It is time to restore humanity back into government.
(Susannah Colt lives in Whitefield and can be reached at susannahbcolt@gmail.com)
My Turns are opinion-based essays submitted by Monitor readers and members of the community. The views expressed in My Turns are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Concord Monitor and its staff.