Cross-posted from Leaven for the Loaf: On Wednesday, January 29, the House Judiciary Committee will hold public hearings on a bill to protect infants who are born alive after attempted abortion (HB 1675-FN) and a prenatal nondiscrimination act to prohibit abortion on the grounds of sex selection or genetic anomaly (HB 1678-FN). Time: 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively.
It’s time for another pro-life crowd in Representatives Hall, comparable to the one that turned out for CACR 14 last week. I suspect these bills will draw the abortion advocates who stayed away from last week’s hearing, although perhaps not all of them will object to the born-alive bill. In any case, showing up matters.
HB 1678, the prenatal nondiscrimination act, is a head-on attack on the attitude that it’s better to be dead than disabled or “unwanted.” If you or someone you love is living with a genetic anomaly including Down syndrome, sharing your story might help open a legislator’s mind and heart.
As for the born-alive bill, remember that the neck-snipping done by Kermit Gosnell in Pennsylvania could be done in New Hampshire with impunity. A New Hampshire born-alive act from about twenty years ago contained no penalties for abortion providers who fail to care for born-alive children.
There are two other life-issue bills on the Judiciary calendar for that morning, which I will not be attending or working on in view of the afternoon’s hearings. Those are a heartbeat bill (HB 1475-FN) and a bill to amend the parental notification statute regarding abortions for minors (HB 1640-FN, to remove the judicial bypass portion of the law).
Let’s see if we can get the legislators to support caring for born children via born-alive legislation. Let’s get them to turn thumbs-down to sex selection abortions. Let them publicly reject better-dead-than-disabled.
That’ll be a good day’s work.
Related: Guide to testifying in Concord
