The Lovering Health Center in Greenland booked The Music Hall in Portsmouth to host a fundraiser this past week featuring a documentary supporting abortion. After learning that a group of pro-life activists would be protesting outside on the street prior to and during the fundraiser, The Music Hall canceled the event, stating abortion is “too political.”
Outraged, the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation (NHWF) released a “letter” on their website to The Music Hall. The letter includes The Music Hall’s description of abortion as “too polarizing,” that the issue is a “lightning rod,” and that the Hall must remain neutral. The NHWF goes on to say, “To be clear, canceling an event for a documentary about abortion is not neutral. It is a political decision that is clearly anti-abortion.” They go further: “But this moment offers the opportunity to reflect, learn, and take accountability. NHWF requests The Music Hall to send a message to the public to show that it is still committed to its values of ‘trust, inclusivity, accountability and courageous leadership.’”
Something strikingly similar happened with Chloe Cole, who, at the time, was an 18-year-old speaking on “Regrets of a Former Trans Kid.” Cornerstone hosted her New Hampshire speaking event in April 2023, which was canceled by the Holiday Inn in Concord, forcing us to relocate at the last minute—thankfully—to Murphy’s Taproom in Bedford. Separately, Eventbrite de-platformed another of her events that had been scheduled at Dartmouth, preventing ticketing on their platform. In other words, Chloe was de-platformed, and the Holiday Inn canceled.
The irony is hard to miss. The same organization now condemning The Music Hall for canceling an event to raise money for an abortion facility applauded or stayed silent when a young woman’s voice was silenced for simply sharing her personal experience. The NHWF calls for “inclusivity” and “courageous leadership,” yet those values seem to vanish when the perspective doesn’t align with their own.
Image: The Music Hall, Portsmouth Ken Gallager, via Wikimedia Commons