(This post is taken from another forum where current Rep Towne and I debated the issue of abortion and Roe v. Wade)
As I have grown older (and hopefully wiser), my attitudes on life inside the womb has changed. When younger, I was never tuned into politics and issues like abortion. At age 59, I clearly understand what it is to be a parent, and that a child doesn’t become a child only once a woman gives birth. I think sometimes, like many issues, too many utilize an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality when it comes to abortion.
The questioner asks about Roe vs. Wade, but that is not an issue that we, as State Representatives, have any ability to alter. That is the purview of our national reps and senators.
Matt mentions in his reply that “his opponent’s efforts have failed” on several past bills on various issues related to abortion. His “opponent” (I assume he means me) has never made any efforts in the State House (was not a prime or co-sponsor of any bills he mentions) other than voting. My efforts have always related to financial bills and financial matters, or bills before our Labor Committee.
I find it interesting that in matters of the life of a human being, that Matt views a woman’s “choice” to eradicate that life as sacrosanct. Yet, a business owner should not have a choice on how he and his patrons interact. “If a person doesn’t agree, a person doesn’t have to get one” Matt says (in regards to abortion). But somehow, if he (or a loved one) doesn’t agree with how a business chooses to operate, rather than choosing to avoid that business, the answer is to call state authorities to snitch.
What about science? The radical left always demands we follow their science regarding the changing of climates, yet now that science permits the heartbeat of a child to be heard at 6 weeks, that science is ignored. I believe any mother listening to a heartbeat of a child within her, would have a very difficult time stopping that heartbeat.
Are there exceptional circumstances where abortions SHOULD be allowed? Seriously. I’m not that sure. “Rape and incest” are exceptions that pro-abortionists point to, yet those numbers are so minute as to be meaningless. One report from the State of Florida in 2018 showed only 109 out of 70,083 abortions fell into this category, or 0.15%. Exception for the “life of the mother”? Again, would any mother choose her own life over that of a child?
My last term in the House, I listened to a Representative from Concord, during debate on an abortion-related bill, explain how she herself had had 3 “unwanted pregnancies” and her reasoning. Her testimony was so atrocious I had to go back into the video archives to listen to it again, as I couldn’t believe what I had just heard! (EDIT: I located the Rep’s actual words, and a previous post from a few years back I made is at the end of this post)
I am strongly and proudly pro-life. I find it very difficult to understand that anyone who has had and raised children could be pro-abortion.
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From my archives:
“During the NH House session this past Wednesday, I heard some of the most unbelievable comments I have witnessed in my four years as a legislator. During a floor debate that would require insurers in the state to cover the complete cost of contraceptives for birth control, democrat Christy Bartlett from Concord made the following two statements during her speech in support:
“Abstinence and personal responsibility are not viable birth control methods”; and, “My personal story is I have had three unplanned pregnancies. If I’d had access to contraceptives, my life would have been very different”.
On the day of the debate, I actually missed the second comment as I was still in disbelief and digesting what I had just heard in the first statement. THIS, my friends, is the radical left mentality of many on the other side of the aisle.”