Planned Parenthood NH Action Fund, Activists, and Allied Organizations Hold #StoptheBans Rally in Concord
For Immediate Release: May 22, 2019
CONCORD – Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund (PPNHAF), allied organizations, and hundreds of activists from across the state rallied in front of the New Hampshire State House on Tuesday to show their opposition to the oppressive and extreme abortion bans passed recently in several states.
PPNHAF was joined by Equality Health Center, Granite State Progress, representatives from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan’s offices, and many others as they sent a clear message that these attempts to ban safe, legal abortion will not stand.
Across the country at the same time, activists in all 50 states took to the streets with rallies and mobilizations happening at state capitols, town squares, and courthouses. Planned Parenthood Action Fund coordinated these events in partnership with All* Above All Action Fund, ACLU, EMILY’s List, Indivisible, MoveOn, NARAL Pro-Choice America, UltraViolet, and Women’s March.
Since taking office, the Trump-Pence administration has made it its mission to restrict access to reproductive health care, including access to safe, legal abortion. They are doing this in defiance of the American people, whose support for access to safe, legal abortion is an at an all-time high—and growing. Nearly 70 percent of people in New Hampshire say they do not want to see Roe v Wade overturned.
“We’re here today to send a clear message: the recent attempts to ban abortion in certain states are dangerous, illegal, and harmful, and will not stand,” said Sabrina Dunlap, VP of Public Policy for Planned Parenthood NH Action Fund. “These laws are oppressive and an assault on our bodily autonomy and basic freedoms. A patient’s health must drive important medical decisions, not a politician’s beliefs.”
Dalia Vidunas, Executive Director of Equality Health Center, defended patients’ constitutional right to have an abortion. “The only reason you should need to have an abortion is because you don’t want to be pregnant,” Vidunas said.
Ashley Serafin, a Planned Parenthood of Northern New England patient from Hooksett, shared why protecting reproductive rights is so important to her. “I’m in this fight for reproductive justice because I know my life would look a lot different if I didn’t have options for care,” Serafin said.
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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. Follow us on Twitter. PPNHAF maintains a separate, segregated political committee and fund to make direct campaign contributions to endorsed candidates (the PAC).