The New Hampshire House voted “inexpedient to legislate” this morning on a bill to repeal the buffer zone law giving abortion providers authority to determine access to public property around their facilities. The tally was 228-141 for the ITL motion. See the roll call at this link, noting that since the motion was “inexpedient to legislate,” a Yea vote was a vote to keep the buffer zone law in place.
The law has never been used since its passage in 2014, possibly due to the certainty of litigation in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s McCullen decision. The 2014 decision was based on the fact that Massachusetts had failed to enforce less restrictive measures, such as laws against harassment and disorderly conduct, before imposing restrictions on the First Amendment rights of peaceful pro-life witnesses outside abortion facilities.
Not a single Democrat supported repeal, apparently preferring to leave the state vulnerable to litigation similar to that which cost Massachusetts taxpayers $1.2 million. The 11 Republicans who joined Democrats in voting Inexpedient to Legislate were Karel Crawford of Center Harbor, Betty Gay of Salem, Edward Gordon of Bristol, John Graham of Bedford, Erin Hennessey of Littleton, John Janigian of Salem, Betsy McKinney of Londonderry, Mark Proulx of Manchester, Harry Viens of Center Harbor, Dan Wolf of Newbury, and Josh Yokela of Fremont.
The roll call showed 25 excused absences and 5 “not voting” (unexplained absences).
