Mayer: Message to Sununu and Concord pals: Mind your own business

Remember the old television show “Father Knows Best”? Well, it’s back—with “Father” now being played by arrogant, far right Republican state legislators and Governor Sununu, who happily signs their intrusive, liberty-stealing legislation into law. There’s a long list of offenses they’ve committed against the citizens of New Hampshire, but the new abortion ban is a direct attack on women and their families, and on their right to privacy.

These extremist Republicans and their political leader, Governor Sununu, do not trust women (and their medical providers) to make their own medical decisions, so they’ve decided to interject themselves into the process and tell everyone else what they can and cannot do. They teamed up this session to pass and sign into law the first modern-era abortion ban in New Hampshire history. As an extra insult to women, they demanded in the original (unamended) abortion ban that women be forced to endure an invasive and costly ultrasound, whether it was medically necessary or not. Sununu was comfortable signing that into law. It was amended after a huge outcry, but it’s clear the intent was to punish women.

The Republicans violated a woman’s right to privacy and intruded into her family and into the doctor’s office, knowing full well that most people in New Hampshire are pro-choice and want the government to stay out of their business. Despite that, it turns out Sununu and his gang are cool with the government controlling and violating people’s rights and privacy and reducing women to second-class citizens. Republican US Senate candidate Don Bolduc summed up their attitude, dismissing women’s reluctance to lose their rights with an arrogant “Get over it.”

Governor Sununu decided to brag about his abortion ban—while claiming at the same time to be a pro-choice governor committed to protecting Roe v. Wade—clearly hoping that our citizens would not catch him in the lie. He said, “Look, I’m the first governor in 40 years to sign an abortion ban. Republican governors before me never signed that.” He then told us again (and again) that he was pro-choice, while he campaigned all summer across New England for anti-choice candidates. These repeated efforts to mislead are both dishonest and disrespectful.

It's important to note here that Republicans not only want to police women's wombs, they also want to police women's access to affordable health care and pregnancy prevention. They run all of our state government, and Sununu's pals on the powerful Executive Council have repeatedly rejected attempts to provide a million dollars for our severely underfunded non-abortion reproductive health programs, even with a generous federal subsidy (42% of the total). Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette described the impact as "remov[ing] the safety net of services that improve birth outcomes, prevent[ing] unplanned pregnancies and reduc[ing] health disparities, which could increase the cost of health care for New Hampshire citizens." Why are they punishing women like this?

The party that pretends they want the government out of our lives is mandating what we can and cannot do. They want to mind your business for you. Despite their alleged reverence for the “Live free or die” motto, they’re all too ready to impose a government mandate curbing our freedom, and with this abortion ban, they are forcing themselves into our homes and medical offices. It’s now up to Granite Staters to tell them to get out, and we can do that at the polls in November.

Susan Mayer of Lee was a senior legislative staff member for Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter for eight years.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Mayer: Message to Sununu, Concord pals:  Mind your own business