Tagged: Contraception

The New Hampshire House has moved to reconsider passage of a controversial bill requiring pregnant women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion. The bill would also require them to receive explicit information on fetal development.

The bill was sent back to committee because it contains criminal penalties but was not reviewed by the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee as required by House Rules. 

Both Democrat and Republican House leaders supported the move. 

North Country representatives were evenly split on the vote for House Bill 1546, which NHPR reported allows “any employer with a religious objection to deny workers insurance coverage for contraceptives.”

Supporters of the bill said it was about religious freedom.

Opponents note the Catholic church helped draft the bill and say it supports its anti-contraception views.

The bill passed 196 – 150 and now goes to the Senate.

All seven of the representatives from the North Country who favored the bill were Republicans. But two Republicans joined five Democrats in opposing the legislation.

 The New Hampshire House voted to allow any employer with a religious objection to deny workers insurance coverage for contraceptives.

Adding an exemption to New Hampshire’s 12-year-old law requiring contraceptives be covered in all drug plans has become a priority for House Speaker William O'Brien. And his leadership team pushed the bill through over strong objection from Democrats and a gallery full of protesters.

To supporters, like Republican Jenn Coffey of Andover, the issue is about religious liberty, pure and simple. "It simply says your employer does not have to pay," Coffey said.  "It does not in any way get in between you and your doctor."

Thursday New Hampshire’s senators voted along party lines as the Senate rejected an amendment to unwind a controversial new contraceptive rule from the Obama Administration. 

Instead of requiring religious institutions to provide birth control in their health care plans, the White House pivoted and is now forcing insurance companies to provide contraception free of charge. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment would have allowed employers to decide their own coverage based upon their religious beliefs. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte supported the amendment.

The resolution asks the federal government to undo a rule requiring insurance companies to provide contraceptives to employees of religious organizations.

House republican leaders say religious liberty is in jeopardy under the federal rule, even though it no longer requires religious organizations to directly pay for contraceptives. House Speaker William O’Brien says the 227-to-121 vote sends the message that either way, the requirement’s intent is simply wrong.

For much of recent history, banning access to birth control was a Democratic issue. When did that change?