The New Hampshire Executive Council voted 4-1 Wednesday to reject a proposal that would have given Title X subsidies to abortion businesses. The rejection marked the fifth time the council has declined the family planning contracts since 2021.
According to the Boston Globe, the proposed contracts would have given Equality Health Center in Concord, Lovering Health Center in Greenland, and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England nearly $1.3 million from a combination of state and federal funds. All three entities commit abortions.
In lobbying for the funds, the abortion industry maintained that the taxpayer-funded contracts would be used for services other than abortion.
“We don’t do taxpayer funded abortion services. We never have,” said Republican Governor Chris Sununu, who supported the measure. “These services really go to a lot of the preventive basic medical care that these facilities provide for a lot of populations that otherwise wouldn’t get that.”
However, opponents maintained that giving any money to a business that commits abortions allows more funds to be used for ending preborn lives.
“Our dollars that go to ‘non-abortion’ services actually free up funds to purchase the table where the abortions are done, the equipment used, and even the heat and air conditioning. … We want no part in their horrific practices,” wrote Helena Davis, a communications and research specialist for Cornerstone, a Christian advocacy group.
The council did vote to continue family planning contracts with four other organizations, Amoskeag Health, Lamprey Health Care, Coos County Family Health Services in Berlin, and the Community Action Programs of Belknap and Merrimack counties, because those organizations do not commit abortions.
There is evidence that the previous rejections of the family planning contracts may have had a direct impact on the abortion industry; in 2021 to 2022, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England closed six of its facilities in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Jason Hennessey, president of New Hampshire Right to Life, praised the council’s decision to continue refusing contracts to abortion businesses.
“The Executive Councilors who said no to funding abortion providers said yes to saving lives and money,” he said. “Giving tax money to organizations that also lobby to legalize abortion all the way through birth is just too extreme.”
