New Hampshire Abortion: Lawmakers Adopt 24-Hour Waiting Period

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch

The Republican-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives Tuesday adopted a measure placing a 24-hour waiting period on abortions as part of a business tax credit bill.

The House passed the measure, attaching the "Women's Right to Know Act," toward the end of Tuesday's session in an effort to push the abortion bill out of the Legislature during the 2012 session. The bill, which extends the state's research and development tax credit program, passed the Senate in March, then the abortion measure was tacked on in a House committee. Lawmakers feel that the abortion measure -- which failed in the Senate earlier this year -- will ultimately kill the complete bill.

"What we have done is take a good piece of fiscal legislation and condemn the legislation to death on the other side of the wall," a Democratic lawmaker said of the bill. "We've hijacked the bill."

The abortion provision specifies a series of steps a doctor must take 24 hours before an abortion is scheduled. They include informing the woman which doctor will perform the abortion and informing her of medical complications that could result following the abortion. The complications mentioned in the bill include risk of infection, hemorrhages, tearing of uterine lining and risk to future pregnancies.

The steps do not have to be outlined in the event of an abortion to save a woman's life. In the case of an emergency abortion, the doctor will have to submit paperwork to the state attesting to the fact that there was no time for the waiting period and information to be conveyed.

The tax credit sections of the bill would change the state's program by increasing the amount of total credits to a company from $1 million to $2 million a year. The section unanimously passed the Senate, but the Senate and Gov. John Lynch (D) are not expected to support the abortion measure. The New Hampshire House is largely dominated by Tea Party-affiliated legislators.

The bill passed hours after the House passed a bill that combined religious objections to contraception insurance along with constitutional convention delegates. The measure also came after House Speaker William O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon) ejected Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R-Manchester) from the chamber after Vaillancourt made a Nazi salute on the floor in protest of O'Brien. Vaillancourt later apologized to the chamber.

Comments

[Neenerpuss]

06:33 PM on 05/17/2012

A woman's place is in the House....AND the Senate!

[XME]

04:36 AM on 05/17/2012

Want to "kill" a fetus? Must wait 24 hours (and in some states get forced testing).

Want to kill a living human you think looks "suspicious" for invalid reasons? No problem...that's your right as an American to bear arms and use them.

[nazztea]

12:57 PM on 05/16/2012

George Carlin Pro Life, Abortion, And The Sanctity Of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Pfgiso3vI

[nevernot]

11:41 AM on 05/16/2012

Reproductive organs and tax cuts. Good thing they are focused so hard on jobs.....

[pet rock]

09:51 AM on 05/16/2012

Republican say there is NO WAR ON WOMEN, what a joke. LIARS, LIARS ,LIARS

[nazztea]

09:37 AM on 05/16/2012

If you can't get what you want forthrightly, break everyone else's toys.

[Charlene Estes]

09:19 AM on 05/16/2012

Republicanss. Do not leave any stone unturned to accomplish nothing

[hammerhead6154]

09:12 AM on 05/16/2012

John Lynch looks like the walking dead ..

[AntiClast]

11:52 AM on 05/17/2012

He's a highly respected governor who has received 70%+ of the votes for 3 terms.

[hammerhead6154]

12:14 PM on 05/17/2012

Oh so there a lot of walking dead in New Hampshire .. Thx for the heads up ..

[Dev Austin]

09:12 AM on 05/16/2012

Hmmm tax credits and abortion. Only the most bizarre thinking could make that match up. Can you say "it must have been a republican"?

[savbar vern]

09:57 AM on 05/16/2012

Dev, did you even read the article? It says that the Research and Development Tax Credit bill had a rider. It does not mean a new tax. We leave the new taxes for the Dems who are notorious for passing the largest and most devastating tax increases in the world.

I don't think there is any doubt that the Republicans pasted the measure onto the Tax Credit bill. Do you think it is wrong for a woman to be advised of the ill effects of an abortion. Are you one of the ones who is at war with women?

[nazztea]

10:10 AM on 05/16/2012

Dev Austin only said what you repeated, that it was a Tax Credit bill.
Are you so blind in your ideology that you can't read a simple statement without launching into a screed?

As to the rider itself; after the measure FAILED in the Senate, it could not be voted on honestly as a stand alone measure, so it had to be attached in an underhanded method?

Is it wrong for voters to see what their representatives are voting on in an open manner?

[Dev Austin]

10:14 AM on 05/16/2012

Where did I say anything about new taxes?

Do I think a woman's health issue should be attached to a bill that has nothing to do with health issues? No.

You are attempting to make my simple statement say something else.

By the way...government need not be involved in making sure my relationship with my doctor is one where the correct information is given. If something is amiss with the doctor there are laws which are in place for the harmed party to take action. Attempting such a thing just implies a woman is not capable of making sure she has all the info. It also just another attempt by pro-life to make it much more difficult for a woman to follow through on her wishes. Should we require the same for a man if he is going in for a snip? Or an anal probe if he wants the blue pill? Of course no thinking person would ever even think of making such requirements for men but when it comes to women they imply they require a little more help while all the while trying to control their bodies and their ability to plan their families. It undermines a woman's ability to make career choices if they have no control over such things. In other words it sets women back to a time when they were expected to be subservient to the man.

[cal sibert]

09:07 AM on 05/16/2012

Well, all I can say is that it would be far better for a bill to die than a baby.It is sad to see how determined democrats are to slaughter children and the fact they want to do it completely unabated in any way.

[paol66]

09:16 AM on 05/16/2012

No one is "slaughtering babies". Abortion is legal in this country. You and your right wing intolerant religious nutters who are allergic to facts should go away.

[savbar vern]

10:02 AM on 05/16/2012

And you pao166 should have been aborted. I am not for abortion. It is obvious by my writings and it is also a religious belief that the killing of a human whether it be a child or adult is wrong. We have people in prison all over this country who killed only one person but we have Drs running around who have killed literally hundreds of children and we think it is OK. Anything that is legal is right in your eyes, is that right? OK lets pass a law that says anyone with a problem; cancer, broken leg, blind, confinded to a wheelchair or in any way different than what we call normal should be put to death to cleanse the system of non-productive people. Let's do it now and see how the rolls go down and the population comes into control. We can do this and put unwanted medical people out of work, homes for the handicapped out of commission, take a tremendous burden off doctors and hospitals and we can do it by simply making it legal to cleanse the system. Is that what you want pao166?

[koyak23]

09:17 AM on 05/16/2012

What is your position on cutting medicaid and food stamps ?
What is your position on cutting early education and Headstart ?
What is your position on allowing gays and lesbians the right to adopt unwanted children?

[nazztea]

09:43 AM on 05/16/2012

Oh, we'll attach abortion riders to those things too.

[Gidster]

09:00 AM on 05/16/2012

A business tax credit bill....Perfect place to sneak in a women's rights truncation...

*Facepalm*

What is wrong with Republicans these days?

[drj516]

09:10 AM on 05/16/2012

They've lost their moral compass and any desire to work for the good of "the People." They want a country "... of the Corporations, by the Corporations and for the Corporations."

That's how they get their money.

[cal sibert]

09:12 AM on 05/16/2012

Why do you think anyone should have the right to kill an innocent child? what is wrong with democrats these days? In case you fail to notice,these women are killing their babies,not themselves,which is murder in any other instance,it just completely defies logic.Not to mention how evil it is.

[nazztea]

09:48 AM on 05/16/2012

Then support fully-funded universal birth control.

[retromoderne]

11:08 AM on 05/16/2012

There is a big difference between an abortion and killing a child. 88% of abortions are performed within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Many women who have an abortion do so because they can't afford a child or they recognize that they aren't prepared to be a good parent. I respect those decisions. A child should be born because someone wants it and is prepared to love and nurture it... not as a punishment for "being irresponsible". Also, a lot of those women do go on to have planned pregnancies later on, when they ARE ready and ARE in a better position to raise a child.

[Kalikat]

08:56 AM on 05/16/2012

That old guy looks like he has got one foot in, how come he is still in politics. Probably doesn't even know what he is doing.

[cal sibert]

09:56 AM on 05/16/2012

I bet if he were promotingabortion you would like him just fine,funny how when you don't have a valid argument you start with the childish personal attacks,but not surprising,attack is all you know.

[schnauzergirl]

08:49 AM on 05/16/2012

"Women's Right to Know Act"

What a load of crap. No other legal medical procedure (many of which are actually extremely dangerous or risky) has a government mandated waiting period. This has absolutely nothing to do with knowledge and everthing to do with putting legal obsticles in the way of women seeking a legal medical procedure.

If you don't like abortions, don't have one. Work to make contraception and complete sex education universally available to every demoographic of the population and provide support for the women who do choose to continue a pregnancy.

[paol66]

09:18 AM on 05/16/2012

Come on, that's sensible. Republicans are proving every day that they are ignorant and stupid.

[pet rock]

09:43 AM on 05/16/2012

you got that one right

[savbar vern]

10:14 AM on 05/16/2012

On your comment schnauz I can readily agree in part. I am an anti-abortion person and for the reasons I have outlined before. But to reiterate; killing is murder and we have criminals in prison because they killed one person. We have sent people to their death because they killed another human but we allow doctors to commit murder everyday because we found an expedient way to hasten the vote by allowing people to have their sexual merriment and then abort when they find they have become pregnant. What a life, we kill for the pure pleasure of having sex in an unprotected way. But then it is legal. I think everyone with an IQ of less than 100 should be exterminated and all crippled people shuld be put to death, all blind people killed instantly when they can no longer navigate on thieir own. Let's do this in the name of a legality and let's get the doctors who alread have much practice in killing to do it for us. Now all we have to do as concerned citizens is make our representatives aware of our desire to clean up the gene pool. Do It Now.

[schnauzergirl]

10:40 AM on 05/16/2012

If you believe that little ball of cells is a person, you are welcome to that view. However, nothing in any of medical training or indepth reading leads me to same conclusion. Until a fetus can survivie on its own without full support from the women, her rights to her own body trump all others. You cannot force me to give you a kidney, even if you would die without it. Same goes for all other parts of my body, which includes my uterus.

[nazztea]

11:04 AM on 05/16/2012

Perhaps we should start with those who have Histrionic Personality Disorder.

[S Hardin Thicke]

08:47 AM on 05/16/2012

I call on every red blooded horny young stud in New Hampshire to bed every republican state congress person's daughters and impregnate without abandon, then dump 'em.

[cal sibert]

09:13 AM on 05/16/2012

s hardin thicke, you are one sick individual.

[ariadne104]

09:27 AM on 05/16/2012

But funny as heck!

[aljonanadjosmom]

12:23 PM on 05/16/2012

But I've read some of your posts and you really need to get some perspective and a senseof humor. wow, you're so angry.

[Ivytwine97]

08:46 AM on 05/16/2012

ohh those sneaky litter riders.. did they think we would miss what their real agenda is?

[drj516]

09:04 AM on 05/16/2012

As I see it, IMHO, their agenda is to prevent any legislation that will help the economy or create jobs. Their sole focus is to bring down the President, as Mitch McConnell said, and in pursuit of that goal they will amend every bill to push religion and women's health care into creating laws that no thinking person could support.
If they are so certain of their missionary goal to create a Theocracy that relegates women to the same status as the Taliban and Al Quida do, then they at least ought to create their own bills on those issues alone. They won't because their real goal is to prevent our country from coming out of this recession, because it would mean that President Obama has been correct. They even filibustered the President's attempts to pass legislation THEY originally sponsored!
Wake up folks, before it's too late. Of course, if you're one of the 1% at the top of the food chain, you can afford to ignore it.

[Gidster]

09:04 AM on 05/16/2012

I believe they really do think Americans are that dumb.

[drj516]

09:06 AM on 05/16/2012

Or scared witless by an agenda that generates fear to prevent rational thought to prevail.