Yesterday, the Committee of Conference on HB 712 – limiting breast surgeries for minors – fixed the amendment that we opposed! The amendment was a copy of SB 36, which we had helped get retained earlier this session. This was an abortion statistics bill which Cornerstone opposed, and many other pro-lifers, due to its origin from Planned Parenthood requests.
Being written by opposition, the bill was deceptively composed in a way that would make the law vague, unenforceable, and unpunishable if offended. Not only was it publicly admitted that the Senate was working with Planned Parenthood, but it can also be seen very clearly by comparing the identical propositions in the testimony of Planned Parenthood lobbyist Liz Canada and/or Planned Parenthood lobbyist Kayla Montgomery’s verbal testimony before Senate HHS. Further reasoning as to why we opposed the bill can be seen in Isabella Peters’ testimony to the committee.
In an attempt to exploit pro-lifers’ desire for statistics, this harmful amendment almost passed. However, due to the hard work of representatives Jim Kofalt and Steven Kesselring, legal punishment was added to result in a criminal misdemeanor for anyone who wilfully reports false statistics. The law will now refer to RSA 638:3, which states:
“Tampering With Public or Private Records. – A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if, knowing he has no privilege to do so, he falsifies, destroys, removes or conceals any writing or record, public or private, with a purpose to deceive or injure anyone or to conceal any wrongdoing”.
The intent of the law was made clear: we will hold violators accountable.
Although there is still some work to be done for NH abortion statistics, i.e. require that abortionists report the gestational age of the child, we can celebrate this achievement and look forward to having some statistics on the abortion industry in New Hampshire. Also, we can celebrate preserving HB 712, a great bill which will prohibit breast surgery for minors.
Please thank the committee, specifically Kofalt and Kesselring, for all their hard work!
You can email them here:
elephantsmarching@msn.com (Rep. Wayne MacDonald)
Steven.Kesselring@gc.nh.gov
Jim.Kofalt@gc.nh.gov
Matt.Drew@gc.nh.gov
David.Rochefort@gc.nh.gov
Regina.Birdsell@gc.nh.gov
Suzanne.Prentiss@gc.nh.gov
