MEMO: Fact Checking Chris Sununu’s False “Pro-Choice” Claims

CONCORD, NH – This Spring, Governor Chris Sununu has been on a national media blitz attempting to emphasize his “pro-choice bona fides” amidst rumors of a potential presidential campaign. However, Sununu bragged just last year about doing “more on the pro-life issue…than anyone,” in regards to signing New Hampshire’s first abortion ban in modern history into law, and his record on reproductive health is shaky at best. 

As state and national press await Sununu’s decision to throw his hat in a crowded ring for president, run for an unprecedented fifth term as New Hampshire governor, or something else, Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund is continuing to fact check the governor’s “pro-choice” claims and providing a rundown of his actual record while in office. 

Kayla Montgomery, Vice President of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund, issued the following statement:

“Pro-choice governors don’t sign abortion bans. Chris Sununu is a career politician who has always been willing to say one thing and do another when it comes to reproductive health and rights. 

Over the past decade, Sununu has defunded Planned Parenthood, vetoed legislation to remove financial barriers to abortion care, and signed New Hampshire’s first abortion ban in modern history, which included a mandatory ultrasound provision. These are not the actions of a “pro-choice” person, let alone a “pro-choice” elected official.

Our nation’s reproductive health care landscape has been devastated by the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade just last year. At this perilous time, the people of this great state and nation deserve leaders who will proudly and strongly stand for our values and take action to protect our rights - not someone who plays both sides in the pursuit of political power and press popularity. Actions speak louder than words and Sununu’s actions as Executive Councilor, as Governor, and as a potential presidential wannabe, tell us exactly who he is.”

BACKGROUND:

The New Hampshire Landscape:

• Without Roe, abortion is still safe and legal in New Hampshire until 24 weeks - for now. A bill to ban abortion would have to pass to further dismantle access to abortion. 
• The restrictions on abortion in New Hampshire are clear: access to abortion at or after 24 weeks is banned, with no exceptions for rape or incest and doctors face criminalization. 
• NH RSA 329:49 says “Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion.”
• New Hampshire is the only state in New England without proactive protections for abortion rights in state statutes or our state constitution.

Chris Sununu’s Record on Reproductive Health and Rights:

• In August of 2015, after previously supporting routine family planning contracts with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, then-Executive Councilor Chris Sununu cast the deciding vote to defund PPNNE, jeopardizing access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing for 14,000 Granite Staters. Just weeks later, he announced his campaign for governor. 

• As a first-time candidate for governor in 2016, Chris Sununu laid out a 5-point plan for restricting reproductive freedom in New Hampshire.
• In 2020, Governor Sununu vetoed the Reproductive Health Parity Act, which would have removed financial barriers to abortion care for Granite Staters. 
• As candidate for governor in 2020, Chris Sununu said he wasn’t “looking to make any changes on that. I’m a pro-choice governor...I don’t think we’re looking to make any abortion restrictions in this state.”
• Yet, only nine months later, in 2021, Governor Sununu signed New Hampshire’s first modern abortion ban into law. The original law banned the procedure at or after 24 weeks and had narrow exceptions, and none for fatal fetal diagnoses, rape, or incest. Sununu’s abortion ban also mandated that all people seeking abortion care, at all stages of pregnancy, first undergo an ultrasound, regardless of medical necessity.
• On November 30, 2021: Chris Sununu: “In terms of this Dobbs case down in Washington, that is not an overturn of Roe v. Wade. It has to do with viability and all this other kind of stuff...I’m not really paying attention to that case. So we’ll see where it goes but that case does not decide Roe v. Wade.”
• On June 28, 2022, four days after the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade: Chris Sununu: “Nothing really changes.”
• As a candidate for governor in 2022, Chris Sununu said he wasn’t “looking to make any other changes in terms of law” but would not rule out signing another abortion ban into law if it was part of another state budget package.

Polling:

• A recently released survey from Breakthrough Campaigns conducted on behalf of Amplify NH shows that a supermajority of Granite Staters - 87% - support reproductive freedom and 64% of Granite Staters expect state elected officials to protect or expand abortion access in New Hampshire. Just 11% of Granite Staters want more abortion restrictions in the state.
• Polling from Maine, a state with similar support for abortion rights, shows that the majority of Mainers (67%) support expanding access to abortion later in pregnancy. The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in February 2023, indicates Mainers trust medical providers and their patients to make decisions about pregnancy and abortion. 
• In a 50-state survey, PRRI found most Americans oppose abortion ban policies; 69% of Granite Staters believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
• August 2022 polling by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center shows that support for abortion rights in New Hampshire is at a historic high and nearly 6 in 10 voters disapproved of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022.
• Polling released in July, 2021 from the UNH Survey Center shows that New Hampshire’s newly-enacted abortion ban is deeply unpopular, with only one-third of Granite Staters in support of it. Nearly half of independent Granite Staters oppose this ban, as do 27 percent of Republicans.
• The truth is, most Granite Staters and most Americans support access to safe, legal abortion. If someone has decided to have an abortion, more than 8 in 10 respondents want the experience to be supportive and nonjudgmental, without added burdens or protesters, affordable and safe. 

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Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund (PPNHAF) is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in New Hampshire. The Action Fund engages in educational and electoral activity, including voter education, grassroots organizing, and legislative advocacy.