Sunday, May 6, 2012

Week In Review: bills in Senate; odds 'n' ends

The fetal homicide bill about which I wrote last week, HB 217, is on Wednesday's NH Senate calendar after being put off a week. Last-minute objections regarding the bill's potential unintended effect on the practice of in vitro fertilization have apparently been addressed to the GOP leadership's satisfaction. I'll be in the gallery to watch this vote. If the bill passes, and it should, it will be the culmination of twenty years of work stretching from the late Rep. Carolyn Brady (R-Manchester) to current Rep. Kathy Souza (R-Manchester). If the bill for some reason does not pass or is shelved, it will be the second time since 2009 that legislators have refused to act on the state Supreme Court's request in the Lamy case to "re-visit" homicide laws as they pertain to a fetus.

The Senate will also take up the resolution commending pregnancy care centers, HCR 31 (subject of another blog post last week). I expect this to pass on party lines, although I wouldn't be shocked if Sens. Odell & Stiles voted no. Why on earth should anyone vote no? But some legislators see threats to Roe the way three-year-olds see monsters in the closet: the monsters aren't there, but there's no reasoning with the three-year-old's imagination.

I don't see HCR 41 passing. That's the resolution calling the federal grant to PPNNE "unconstitutional and void." At the committee hearing last week, the resolution got a 4-1 "inexpedient to legislate" vote, and Sen. Molly Kelly (D-Keene) will present the report to the full Senate. The Senate does not seem to share the outrage in the House about the federal side-step of a NH decision.

A couple of items not NH-based, but of interest:
  • Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law late last week a bill to de-fund abortion providers in her state. The legislation she signed is similar to New Hampshire's HB 228, which the Senate recently tabled over concerns that the bill might lead to litigation and loss of federal funds. Thank God there are legislators and governors willing to take on these threats. We should be standing with them. In Texas, a de-funding law was taken to court by Planned Parenthood affiliates, and a lower court granted PP an injunction in April which was promptly overturned by a higher court. That litigation will continue.
  • The Family Research Council, based in Washington, DC, will have a webcast on Wednesday called "Pregnancy Resource Centers: Celebrating Mother's Day Every Day." Details here.

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