The New Hampshire House passed a bill this week to offer new protections to pregnancy resource centers, organizations that refer pregnant women away from abortions.
The bill would spell out in state law that the centers cannot be required to refer or offer certain reproductive health care, such as abortion care and contraceptives. The bill would also expand protections for pregnancy resource centers that would offer services including “pregnancy-related care or treatment.”
Rep. Zoe Manos, a Democrat from Stratham, said pregnancy resource centers don’t currently face any threats that merit this type of protection.
“Anti-abortion centers are private entities that already have First Amendment rights,” Manos said.
Rep. Samuel Farrington, a Republican from Rochester who supported the bill, said pregnancy resource centers do face risks from opponents seeking to “weaponize state governments to persecute" them.
The bill was passed 176 to 163 along party lines.
State lawmakers voted down several other bills related to abortion this week.
One would have banned abortions earlier than what current New Hampshire law allows. Another bill sought to remove what are called "buffer zones" that prevent anti-abortion protesters from getting close to the entrances of abortion centers and soliciting patients seeking their services.
Kayla Montgomery with Planned Parenthood of New England said abortion providers face a range of protests.
“Every day is a little bit different, but in general we see things like photographing of patients and staff, attempts to engage in dialogue when a patient or a support person does not want to engage in dialogue,” Montgomery said.
A third bill that was voted down would have required pharmacies and medical facilities to notify patients about the potential reversibility of mifepristone, a drug used in medical abortions. Medical groups say claims about the drug's reversal are not supported by science.
