All five members from the New Hampshire Senate Health and Human Services Committee turned down a state senate bill Thursday that would prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from funding Planned Parenthood and other centers providing abortion services.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court bans most abortion restrictions, Sen. Mike Kapler said he supports the bill, arguing that tax dollars shouldn't fund abortion services.
"We are going to have one every year until we do succeed," said Kapler, referring to the bill against federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Attendees opposing the bill argued that the bill is discriminatory toward those who rely on federal funding for abortions because they cannot afford them. According to Dawn Touzin, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, 64 percent of the people who visit Planned Parenthood have incomes below the poverty level.
Despite enthusiasm shown by him and the coalition, Kapler felt that the bill was not going anywhere. Republican Sen. John S. Barnes Jr., the prime sponsor for the bill who called abortion "gross" and "wrong," agreed with Kapler's prognosis.
"[The bill] is going nowhere; it will be dead on the senate floor," Barnes said.
Touzin said hearing attendees consisted mostly of the bill's supporters.
"Their issue was to present a totally anti-abortion agenda. They had quite a number of people delivering some version of that message," she said. "In terms of those who were against the bill, we didn't not put on a concerted effort to get people, because we felt that the merits of the bill were basically nil."
Attendees opposing the bill informed committee members that federal money does not contribute directly towards abortion services. They stressed that the funds Planned Parenthood receives from the government go toward family planning, breast and cervical screening and birth control.
The bill received an "inexpedient to legislate" designation, meaning the committee recommends that the bill not become a law. It will return on the senate floor Thursday, when Barnes speculates it will be rejected with a vote of 19 to 5.
"It's only going to get 4 or 5 votes," said Barnes, "it needs 13."
Eleanor Smith '09, a member of Dartmouth's Coalition for Life, supports the bill.
"I don't believe that the tax money doesn't actually go to support abortions specifically," she said. "I don't want any of my money to go to Planned Parenthood because I don't believe anything they support."
