By Rep. Mary Jane Wallner
I was first elected to the state legislature 42 years ago. At that time, Roe V. Wade had been in place for almost a decade.
As a young woman at the start of my professional career, the security of knowing that I had the autonomy over my own body to plan a family in my own time was not something I took for granted. After all, my own mother and grandmother were not afforded the same rights to their own bodies.
Over the decades since, I became the Executive Director of a non-profit childcare agency, became a mother to two wonderful children, served as House Majority Leader and the Chair of the House Finance Committee, and most recently as Deputy House Democratic Leader.
Throughout the years, I knew that the government could not restrict my right to make my own reproductive health care decisions. Back then, I would have never imagined a world in which these protections did not exist for my own children and grandchildren. Now, it is likely the 50-year federal backstop will soon be gone, and the rights of Granite Staters will lay exclusively in the hands of our state legislature and Governor Sununu, who signed the first abortion ban in modern New Hampshire history.
Confronting the probability that reproductive freedom could be a thing of the past is a harrowing task for legislatures across the country, and especially for us in the “Live Free or Die” state. This year, even before the draft U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked, Granite Staters had become victims of the most restrictive abortion ban in New Hampshire history. As part of last year’s state budget, Republicans included language requiring invasive ultrasounds and outright banning abortion after 24 weeks even in cases of rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies.
Two weeks ago, Democrats in the House made several attempts to make private reproductive health care decisions free from government intrusion by trying to revive tabled legislation and a constitutional amendment that would codify access to abortion care. Not only were we blocked, but members of Republican leadership described our efforts as the ‘outrage du jour’ and ‘dessert once we are done with everything else,’ belittling both our critical efforts and Granite Staters’ reproductive freedom.
The reality is, the majority of people in New Hampshire support access to safe, legal abortion. Four years ago, 81% of Granite Staters voted to amend our constitution to affirm a natural right to privacy. It is very disappointing to see Republicans, the supposed party of small government and ‘personal freedom,’ deny discussion to safeguard reproductive freedom for all Granite Staters.
If this month’s right-wing shenanigans in New Hampshire are any indication, what is undoubtedly coming from Republicans in future legislative sessions will be even more severe.
As I look back on my decades in the legislature, I reflect on what a privilege it was to know that the government did not have control over Granite Staters’ reproductive decisions and the freedom such a privilege gave my peers to serve their communities, further their careers, and form their own families.
We cannot go back; our work now must be to pay it forward for the next generation of Granite Staters. House Democrats are committed to supporting the reproductive freedom of our constituents, so that they may have the self-determination to be community leaders, business owners, legislators, and parents – if and when they so choose.