By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
Something that never occurred before has happened not once but multiple times over the last decade: the erosion of individual rights once guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and the New Hampshire Constitution.
The erosion of reproductive or women’s medical care rights is the most well-known, but the attrition impacts many more people in both subtle and pronounced ways.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade and turned the decision over to the states, there was a stampede in some state legislatures to all but ban the procedures.
That was not enough for some states like Texas which enacted laws making any attempt to access the procedure criminal, including for those who helped the person.
Then that state went after pharmaceutical abortions long available and approved by federal regulators as safe.
While the Supreme Court decided to continue to allow access to the drugs, it did it in such a way to leave the door open to future challenges.
New Hampshire has long had a yes “Libertarian” view on issues like abortion, but that changed as well after the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs Wade.
Unsuccessful attempts were made to ban abortion in New Hampshire, but found little support.
But in 2021 the legislature approved what sponsors called the Fetal Life Protection Act, which bans abortion after the 24th month of pregnancy, which when passed had almost no exceptions outside of the life of the mother.
The next year exceptions were added that allowed for fatal fetal anomaly and the health of the mother, but the Republican controlled legislature to date has failed to remove the criminal and civil provisions of the law which put physicians and other healthcare providers at risk.
At the same time, the Republican majority in both the House and Senate has voted down attempts to enshrine a right to an abortion in either the state constitution or in statute, which every other state in New England has done.
This session, a last-minute addition to include data collection on abortions performed in the state failed to make it into law when the House voted down the bill that included the data collection provision added in the Senate.
Abortion is an issue that will not be settled in New Hampshire any time in the foreseeable future and the playing field has been expanded by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision.
Last week, four bills targeting transgender individuals, especially young people were on Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk and the public pressure efforts on both sides was intense.
Sununu received the four bills Monday and had five days to decide what to do which resulted in what is known as a Friday afternoon news dump when you try to garner as little attention as possible with the weekend coming up and everybody a reporter would want to talk to has left town for the beach or the mountains.
The three bills he signed ban trans girls from participating on women’s competitive sports teams and performing gender reassignment surgery on individuals under 18 years old, and the other would add the provision “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression” to the parental notification law if a teacher is going to be discussing “an objectionable topic” for parents.
Sununu vetoed a bill that would loosen discrimination restrictions on businesses or organizations to segregating male and female bathroom and locker room facilities, sports teams and detention facilities.
Sununu said the bill is too broad and tries to address problems that do not exist in New Hampshire.
“In 2018, Republicans and Democrats passed legislation to prevent discrimination because as I said at the time, it is unacceptable and runs contrary to New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die Spirit. That still rings true today,” Sununu said in his veto message. “The challenge with HB 396 is that in some cases it seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves in New Hampshire, and in doing so invites unnecessary discord.”
However Sununu five years ago signed that bill to prevent discrimination on among other things public school sports teams and Friday he signed the bill prohibiting trans girls from competing on women’s competitive sports teams. The bill does not prohibit trans girls from competing on intramural sports teams.
The head of the largest teachers’ union in New Hampshire Megan Tuttle, President of NEA-New Hampshire, objected to the bill requiring broader notification for objectionable topics in the classroom equating it with the state’s divisive concept law recently found unconstitutional by a federal court.
“Let’s be clear. The adoption of HB 1312 is yet another attempt to chill classroom conversations, just like the similarly vague and unworkable ‘banned concepts’ law which was recently ruled unconstitutional,” Tuttle said. “Educators and families work well together to support students, but this law inserts politics into those critical relationships. It is incredibly disappointing that Governor Sununu signed this bill that could put teachers and support staff in impossible positions in determining which actions or conversations could put them or a student in jeopardy. New Hampshire educators, students, and families deserve better.”
The four bills target a population that often faces discrimination and bullying and certainly move the needle backward on inclusion.
Much like the abortion issue, New Hampshire has long had a history of live and let live for the LBGTQ+ community in New Hampshire, but the latest attempt to bring the state into the center ring of the culture wars contradicts that “Libertarian” tradition.
Public schools were another target of the culture wars for many things from Medicaid services to complaint procedures.
But perhaps the biggest target was public libraries both in schools and in communities.
Proponents of limiting what could be available to students bristled when they were accused of book banning, but that is at the heart of what was proposed.
In many cases “the culprit” was an app that makes nearly all book publications accessible to students that is widely used across the country and here in New Hampshire.
It can be used anywhere, not just school libraries or town or city libraries.
No one argues a parent has a right to decide what is appropriate material for their child, but most people object to one parent being able to dictate what other children may access.
Fortunately, the book banning attempts failed to achieve their goals and students and others will continue to have access to material that some want to prohibit.
The erosion list continues from voting rights to regulations protecting citizens’ health, well-being and finances, and protections from con men who are motivated by greed.
These days freedom and liberty are in the eye of the beholder, meaning in these above cases freedom for me and you if you agree with me.
And ironically, this erosion of rights has largely been driven by individuals from the Free State Project or people who align with their beliefs and funded by billionaires who want to make the United States an oligarchy and want New Hampshire to be the Texas or Florida of the north.
New Hampshire has long had the adage of live and let live, and it is the “flat-landers” in the name of liberty who are pouring salt in our maple syrup.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.
Distant Dome by veteran journalist Garry Rayno explores a broader perspective on the State House and state happenings for InDepthNH.org. Over his three-decade career, Rayno covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat. During his career, his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. Rayno lives with his wife Carolyn in New London.