Alice Day

The citizens of NH overwhelmingly support the right of women to have bodily autonomy and to be treated as fully-realized human beings, and interfering with their healthcare decisions even further - which this bill does - goes against the people's will. There are less than 11,000 abortions per year of fetuses over 20 weeks nationwide. The number of abortions occurring between week 20 and week 24 are a tiny fraction of that. The majority of the abortions after 20 weeks are either due to fetal anomalies or to save the health and life of the pregnant patient. At 20 weeks is when women typically get the anatomy scan ultrasound and are notified of significant fetal abnormalities that are incompatible with life for the fetus. Pre-eclampsia, Anencephaly, Severe Hydrocephalus, Encephalocele,Trisomy 13 (Patau Syndrome) & Trisomy 18 (Edwards Syndrome), Triploidy, Bilateral Renal Agenesis (Potter’s Syndrome), Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) are just some of the indications that may lead to a (as noted, extremely rare) abortion after 20 weeks. The only people that should be involved in any discussion about anything to do with any of these medical conditions are the patient and the doctors. Not politicians. Not police. Not judges. And certainly not people who don't even know the affected patient. To advance this bill is to sentence women to death or to force them to carry to term a fetus that will not survive outside the womb. That is cruel and unusual punishment by any definition, and is completely incompatible with New Hampshire values.