Sorry-not-sorry to bring this up again, but will someone please point me to the place in the Senate where the abortion statistics bill was stashed? Who could possibly be benefiting from stalling on this?
I sat in on the House study committee meetings that resulted in this year’s HB 629, “relative to induced termination of pregnancy statistics.” So did a Planned Parenthood representative, someone from the state Vital Records office, and a DHHS staffer. The study was hardly one-sided. HB 629 passed the House in January. It had a Senate hearing in March. Since then, nothing. Look at the docket for the bill and listen for the crickets. No committee vote yet, never mind a scheduled floor vote.
We’re talking about counting abortions, not regulating them. This public health measure was a bipartisan effort up until the time the House handed off the bill to the Senate. The bill passed the House on a voice vote.
The House blurb on the bill was succinct.
“As amended [to address privacy concerns], this bill provides statistical information that brings New Hampshire in line with 48 other states. The committee took care to be sure the identity of the patient is confidential and follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols. All stakeholders agreed to the final version of the bill.”
It seems that one or two stakeholders have since taken a walk. If HB 629 can’t get past the Senate, though, that’s on the senators – not on DHHS or the governor or PP.
This is not groundbreaking legislation. Collecting statistics is manageable, as the study committee found. Stats collection is hardly damaging to the abortion industry, judging from the fact that the industry is humming along despite stats collection laws in four dozen states. Public health officials right up to the level of the CDC recognize the public health value to knowing how many abortions are being induced and how abortion affects women’s health.
I’d like to know which senators disagree with that. I know, I know – one doesn’t demand roll calls of senators. Bad form and all that. In the absence of a vote, though, they all seem opposed to stats collection, with the notable exceptions of co-sponsors Senators Cataldo and Daniels.
