New Hampshire Has Repeatedly Been Forced to Protect Itself from the Trump-Pence Administration’s Attacks on Health Care and Reproductive Rights

Ahead of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the Granite State on Tuesday, Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund is highlighting the many ways the Trump-Pence administration has tried to sabotage Granite Staters’ health care access and reproductive rights and the actions that our state has repeatedly taken to protect itself from those attacks.

Attacking Abortion Rights

The Trump-Pence administration continues to stack the federal courts with anti-abortion and anti-health care judges, including U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Now, immediately following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, they are trying to push through another U.S. Supreme Court nominee before the General Election, defying Justice Ginsburg’s last wish.

Vice President Pence, who is vocally anti-abortion, said: “I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history.” 

New Hampshire has had to protect ourselves from the Trump-Pence administration’s attacks on abortion access rights by: 

Blocking attacks from extreme anti-abortion New Hampshire legislators emboldened by the Trump-Pence administration. This year alone, five bills were introduced that would have restricted or outright banned access to safe, legal abortion. Fortunately, all of these bills were blocked thanks to our state’s long bipartisan tradition of upholding privacy when it comes to personal medical decisions; but we will continue to face these relentless attacks.

Sabotaging the Affordable Care Act

In June, the Trump-Pence administration filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down the ACA, potentially wiping out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans, including women, people with low incomes, people of color, LGBTQ people, and young people. If the ACA is repealed, more than 62 million women could lose access to no-copay preventive services, including birth control, STI screenings, life-saving breast cancer screenings, HIV screenings, and Pap tests. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to push administrative rule changes designed to sabotage the ACA, including a rule that could result in insurance companies dropping abortion care coverage for thousands in New Hampshire at a time when many are facing insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, this rule was struck down recently by a federal judge, finding it would create an “unreasonable barrier” to medical care in violation of the ACA, but it’s likely they will challenge that decision.

New Hampshire has had to protect ourselves from the Trump-Pence administration’s attacks on insurance coverage of reproductive health by:

• Introducing HB 685, the Reproductive Health Parity Act, which would put New Hampshire in line with seven states that have already passed similar legislation to protect themselves against any future federal restrictions. Unfortunately, Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed HB 685, making New Hampshire vulnerable to these attacks.

• Passing a 2019 law that enshrined the protections of the ACA into New Hampshire state law. 

Undermining Birth Control Access

Birth control is critical, time-sensitive medication that treats serious conditions and allows people to plan if and when they get pregnant. Yet instead of expanding upon the access gained under the Affordable Care Act, the Trump-Pence administration has undermined the ACA’s contraception coverage mandate.

New Hampshire has had to protect ourselves from the Trump-Pence administration’s attacks on birth control by: 

Passing a state solution in 2018, SB 421, relative to insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives, which protects the no-cost contraception coverage of birth control provision in the Affordable Care Act for Granite Staters. This law is now more important than ever following this year’s Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Pennsylvania, upholding two Trump-Pence administration rules that allow employers and universities to deny their employees and students coverage for contraceptive care based on a religious or moral objection. 

Dismantling the Federal Title X Program

Last year, the Trump-Pence administration introduced a gag rule that forced Planned Parenthood and other family planning providers out of Title X, a bipartisan federal program established by the Nixon administration in 1970 to provide essential reproductive health care to low-income or uninsured people. 

New Hampshire has had to protect ourselves from the Trump-Pence administration’s attacks on Title X funding by: 

Passing a state budget that includes additional family planning dollars to mitigate the impact of the federal gag rule in the Granite State. Thanks to our state’s legislative leaders, the New Hampshire state budget provides temporary protection against the gag rule. But essential health care access remains at risk for more than 16,000 people in New Hampshire and millions nationwide. 

It’s clear that the Trump-Pence administration’s actions are a threat to the health and safety of Granite Staters. We will continue fighting to protect Granite Staters’ health and safety from this administration’s relentless attacks.

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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. The Action Fund makes independent expenditures on behalf of or in opposition to targeted candidates for public office. PPNHAF maintains a separate, segregated political committee and fund to make direct campaign contributions to endorsed candidates (the PAC).