In her new TV ad, likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte says that she will not change NH’s abortion ban law. Ayotte calls her critics “wrong.” She says the law allows abortions later in pregnancy “in cases of medical emergency.” There are two huge problems with Ayotte’s ad. First, the law’s exception for medical emergencies is indecipherable, rendering it too risky for physicians trying to avoid criminal charges, and thus useless to pregnant patients in need of urgent care. Unless a fetus has a fatal diagnosis, the law only allows later abortions “when continuation of the pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”

What on earth does that mean? Exactly how substantially and irreversibly impaired must the woman’s body be before she is allowed to terminate a dangerous pregnancy? An incorrect determination by the doctor could land her or him in jail, for 7 years. The second problem is with Ayotte’s promise that she will not change NH’s law. Why should we believe the same politician who voted to defund Planned Parenthood, voted to allow insurers and employers to deny coverage for birth control and IVF, and proudly escorted through the Senate confirmation process one of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade, thus ending 50 years of the constitutional right to abortion? Kelly Ayotte does not trust women to make the right decisions about their own pregnancies. We should not trust her to protect our fundamental freedoms.

Monica Ciolfi

Concord