This session has been bittersweet. On almost all of our core issues, the New Hampshire House GOP has never been better. House Republicans this year stood overwhelmingly and valiantly for parental rights, pregnancy resource centers, the rights of homeschoolers, and medical freedom for those in debilitating pain. The unwavering conviction of most House Republicans on these issues has been heartwarming.
On every one of these issues, however, Senate Republicans have largely taken an adversarial position. While some Republican Senators are more aligned with us than others, Senate Republicans outwardly operate as a bloc and rarely hold their colleagues accountable with roll-call votes on these critical issues.
Making matters worse, Republican Senators tend to view even polite feedback from their constituents as “bullying” and “pressure,” causing them to double down on deranged positions. The result has been one of the most bizarre Senate sessions in living memory. For the first time in Cornerstone’s 25-year history, we expect a majority of Senate Republicans will score poorly on most Cornerstone issues, from parental rights to medical freedom.
The latest example is the most alarming yet — and you can still help stop it.
Stop Senate Republicans from Removing Teenage Girls’ Breasts
A group of New Hampshire Republican senators have repeatedly fought to advance a Democrat-sponsored bill to allow teenage girls’ healthy body parts to be surgically removed. HB 1376 — originally a solid parental rights bill authored by Rep. Lori Korzen of Berlin — was hijacked on May 14 when Sen. Tara Reardon and Republican Sen. Regina Birdsell inserted breast-removal language identical to SB 520, a bill the House had just tabled one week earlier.
Cornerstone has no objection to Rep. Korzen’s underlying bill. She is a champion of parental rights and medical freedom. HB 1376 is now a threat only because the Senate bolted on the breast-removal language the House had already rejected.
Senate Republicans say the bill only covers breast reduction, not breast removal. That is false. “Breast surgery” is defined in RSA 329:52 to include “surgery to remove all breast tissue.” They say it allows surgery only in limited circumstances. False again. The amendment authorizes breast surgery on a minor for any reason, “including but not limited to” physical discomfort — meaning any teenage girl willing to tell a surgeon she is uncomfortable qualifies for full breast removal.
RSA 329:53 already allows limited breast surgery for symptomatic macromastia. The Senate amendment goes far beyond any honest definition of medical necessity.
You can read Cornerstone’s full analysis here.
⚠️ Committee of Conference — Tuesday, May 26
The fate of HB 1376 will be decided at a Committee of Conference on Tuesday, May 26 at 2:00 PM in Room GP 232 at Granite Place, the legislative office building located at 33 North State Street in Concord, NH, adjacent to the State House. This is your last opportunity to act.
Contact the House conferees and thank them for standing strong. Urge them to reject every version of the Senate’s breast-removal language — no matter how it is repackaged.
Sample script:
Dear Representative [Last Name],
I am writing to urge you to stand strong in the committee of conference on HB 1376 and to oppose any and all modifications to RSA 329:53.
RSA 329:53 already permits limited breast surgery for symptomatic macromastia. There is no legitimate medical reason to expand that authority . The Senate amendment would authorize elective mastectomies on minors for any reason, including simply feeling uncomfortable with one’s body.
Please reject any version of this language, no matter how it is repackaged or how minor the proposed changes appear. Thank you for standing for children and for families.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your town]
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Call or email the House conferees above and urge them to hold the line
- Share our full analysis with friends and family in New Hampshire
- Attend the Committee of Conference in person if you can — Tuesday, May 26, 2:00 PM, GP 232
Senate Republicans Strip Protections from Pregnancy Resource Centers
HB 1416, introduced by Rep. Samuel Farrington, was a simple, minimal bill. It said that state agencies cannot ban pregnancy resource centers or force them to refer for abortions. That is all it did. Pregnancy resource centers help women facing unplanned pregnancies — with free services, ultrasounds, and genuine care. This bill gave them the most threadbare protection imaginable: protection from being shut down or coerced by government.
Senate Republicans killed it anyway. Their stated reason — that they needed more time to “study the issue” — is not a serious argument. If protecting pregnancy resource centers from government bans and mandates is not acceptable after a full session of advocacy and debate, then Senate Republicans will never protect pregnancy resource centers. No future bill will be different in principle. The only difference will be the excuse.
There are two things you can do right now. First, contact your senator and let them know this is unacceptable. Second, thank Rep. Farrington for his courage and pro-life leadership in bringing this bill forward.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Call or email your senator and tell them: protecting pregnancy resource centers from government bans is not a complicated question
- Thank Rep. Farrington for his pro-life leadership on this bill
Contact Your Senator → Thank Rep. Farrington →
Senate Republicans Fight to Block Patients in Debilitating Pain from Experimental Therapies
There are people in New Hampshire — living with blindness, deafness, devastating injuries, and rare diseases — who could access life-changing therapies today, if the law allowed it. HB 1735 would have extended New Hampshire’s existing Right to Try law to patients with chronic and debilitating conditions — people who aren’t dying tomorrow but who are suffering every day.
HB 1735 passed the full House 181–151. Then the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 3–2 to send it to Interim Study — effectively killing it. When the bill was pulled from the consent calendar, Sen. Birdsell moved to table it entirely. A bipartisan House majority, the Governor, and patient advocates all supported the bill. Senate Republicans stood against them.
A company in the Manchester Millyard already manufactures individualized bone and cartilage grafts — crafted from a patient’s own stem cells — that can repair debilitating deformities with no other treatment. But they can only sell them in Florida. New Hampshire patients who need them have no legal pathway to access them here. That is what Senate Republicans voted to preserve.
The bill is now tabled, but the session is not over. Your senators can still act. Call them and ask them to take HB 1735 off the table and vote Ought to Pass.
Read Cornerstone’s full case for Right to Try:
Act Now to Help Patients: Support HB 1735, Right to Try →
Sample script:
Dear Senator [Last Name],
I am asking you to take HB 1735 off the table and vote Ought to Pass. This bill would extend New Hampshire’s Right to Try protections to patients with chronic and debilitating conditions — people who are suffering every day and who deserve the right to pursue experimental therapies in consultation with their physician.
The House passed this bill 181–151. The Governor supports it. The patients it would help are real people in our communities. Please do not let this die in the Senate. Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your town]
Homeschooling Bill Passes — With a Caveat
HB 1268, the Home Education Freedom Act, has passed both chambers and is heading to the Governor. Rep. Kristin Noble has been a valiant and tireless champion for homeschooling families throughout this process, and we are grateful for her leadership. You can read more about what this bill means for home educators at the link below.
But the full picture deserves an honest telling. Senate Republicans did not pass this bill out of principled commitment to homeschooling families. They passed it only after Senator David Rochefort — a pharmacist — attached unrelated language to the bill mandating greater pharmacy control over cost pricing. The homeschooling provisions were, in a meaningful sense, incidental to the Senate’s interests.
Granite Staters should understand exactly who they sent to Concord and why those senators voted the way they did.
Read More: Home Education Freedom Should Not Depend on a Permission Slip from the State →
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