'This is a dark day': Seacoast, NH and Maine leaders react to Roe v. Wade being overturned
The 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision protecting a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion in America was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court Friday.
Six of nine Supreme Court justices, all appointed by Republican presidents, struck down the law, while the court's three other justices dissented. No immediate change in abortion law is expected in either New Hampshire or Maine.
As news broke of the monumental repeal Friday morning, here’s how Seacoast area leaders and political leaders from New Hampshire and Maine reacted to the decision:
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH
“This is a dark day for our country. Like millions of Americans who awoke to a terrifying new reality today, I am gutted by the Supreme Court’s decision to turn back 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade. My heart breaks for mothers and grandmothers who marched and fought to secure this watershed achievement, and for the girls who now face a grim future without access to life-saving health care and fewer fundamental rights. The highest court in the land failed half of the country today.
What happens next: NH and Maine officials said abortion would remain legal in both states
“Make no mistake: this decision jeopardizes women’s lives. It won’t stop abortions from happening – it will just make them dangerous and potentially deadly. I remember what it was like before Roe. I had friends who sought back-alley abortions. We cannot go back – that’s why I’ve always been committed to building a future that empowers women to control our own bodies and our own futures. Decisions around when and how to start families should belong to us – not extreme politicians or unelected jurists who have no understanding of the circumstances and won’t live with the consequences.
“This decision casts women as second class citizens and cannot become the new status quo. We must channel our mourning and outrage into action, demanding new laws in Congress and in state legislatures across the country to preserve this fundamental human right. And we need to raise our voices like never before at the polls this November to elect leaders who actually trust women. Today, we grieve. Tomorrow, we fight.”
The decision: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH
“Today, the Supreme Court – enabled by politicians who have spent years stacking the Court with radical and extremist justices – has decided to take away a woman’s most fundamental freedom: her bodily autonomy. And in doing so, the Court pulled women — and our country — backwards to a time when women were second-class citizens.
“Women have both the capacity and the conscience to make difficult and complicated decisions about their health and their lives. That a majority of the Supreme Court disagrees with that proposition is deeply disturbing. This decision will have a profound impact on women, the economy, and our democracy. The Court’s determination that half of the country’s population – women — should be denied full and equal citizenship goes against our country’s values.
“Make no mistake, the end of Roe is not the ultimate goal of anti-choice extremists: Mitch McConnell has made it clear that the ultimate objective is to ban abortion nationwide. Our most important objective must be to hold the line against any efforts to enact a nationwide ban that would send a woman and her doctor to jail for having an abortion.
Around the region: How will New England's abortion laws be affected by Roe v. Wade decision?
“The danger now facing women and our country is real and it is grave. In denying a woman the right to make her own decisions free from the interference of politicians, the Supreme Court has sent us back 50 years. For the first time in our country’s history, our daughters will grow up with fewer rights than their mothers had. This decision will do everlasting harm to women, jeopardizing their health and allowing them to be charged with a crime for making their own decisions about their bodies.
“We cannot let today’s decision be the final word concerning a woman’s freedom. I will keep fighting to protect a woman’s autonomy and her ability to fully participate in our democracy. And I will keep encouraging all Granite Staters— and all Americans—to hold accountable politicians who would substitute their own personal judgments for that of the women that they claim to represent.”
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine
“Today’s decision to overturn nearly half a century of precedent upon precedent is a dangerous, blatantly political ruling that will rob millions of women the fundamental right to make decisions about their own health, safety, and lives. The right to a safe, legal abortion has been reaffirmed by the Court time and time again – but this new majority has decided to overwrite longstanding precedent to impose their own personal and religious views on women across the country. This ruling goes against the wishes of the majority of Americans, and lays a terrifying groundwork for this Court to unravel many other hard-earned civil rights in the years ahead.
“This decision is deeply infuriating, but it is unfortunately not a surprise. Beyond being telegraphed in the leaked decision earlier this year, this decision firmly aligns with the clear, decades-long conservative campaign to fill our nation’s court system with ideologically-driven judges who would vote to end abortion access. This goal was made explicit by former President Donald Trump, who promised to only appoint judges who would overturn Roe. This promise, along with each nominee’s clear hostility towards a woman’s right to choose, were among the main reasons that I voted against Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. For all the fear-mongering about so-called ‘judicial activism’ by some conservative lawmakers, their chosen judges clearly do not hesitate to overturn precedent, override popular sentiment, and overreach beyond the Court’s historic incremental approach.
The fallout: Online data, medical records could be used to put women in jail under new abortion laws
“The impacts of this ruling will reverberate in communities throughout America – but fortunately, Maine women will not be denied this basic right thanks to protections in our state constitution and the leadership of Governor Mills. However, this does not change the fact that far too many across the country will not be so lucky, and will be penalized for the crime of living in the wrong state. This decision will make healthcare services more difficult to access for millions, and the lives of low-income Americans who cannot afford to travel to a state where abortion is legal will be unnecessarily put at risk. Let me be clear, this decision will not lead to the banning of abortion, no matter how earnestly its opponents and the majority of this court may desire it. What it will do is facilitate the banning of safe abortions, to the detriment of women in all corners of our country.
“While there is no clear or easy path to reverse this decision, I will continue doing everything in my power to protect this fundamental right. I will pursue any possible compromise and will not rest until women across the nation can once again make this personal decision with the input of loved ones and medical professionals – not the government.”
Rep. Chris Pappas, D-NH
“This decision is a devastating blow against the health, well-being, and personal freedom of women in New Hampshire and all across our country. For nearly 50 years the right of women to make their own medical decisions has been the law of the land, and today a radical majority on the Supreme Court decision ripped that right away by opening the door for states to enact draconian laws limiting access to abortion and reproductive health care.”
A national look: Searchable database of state-by-state abortion limits and protections
“The vast majority of people in New Hampshire and across the country support the right to choose. It's something that I have heard about non-stop as I traveled around my district, and my office has received thousands of messages in support of upholding Roe v. Wade since a draft of this decision was leaked. One woman shared her heartbreaking story of having a miscarriage and needing an abortion when doctors were unable to save her baby. Because she was able to have an abortion and access the medical care she needed, she remained healthy, and later went on to have a daughter and build a family. I fought to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to ensure no judge or politician can take away that care, or a person’s right to make those health care decisions.”
“Now that this decision has been issued, we must keep fighting to pass this life-saving legislation to protect women’s personal freedoms, as well as legislation to enshrine all rights rooted in the right to privacy into law. This is not a fight I’m new to, and it’s one I won’t back down from.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine
“Today’s catastrophic ruling is the culmination of a decades-long effort by Republican extremists to install anti-choice justices on a High Court that routinely overrules Congress and the public’s will with impunity. Enabled by Senate Republicans, this shamefully partisan Supreme Court has decided against the more than 70% of Americans who want Roe v. Wade upheld.
“Government control of reproduction is downright totalitarian. It is never in the best interest of society for politicians to decide when a person must give birth. Today’s ruling is rooted in ideological zealotry, not the common good. As a direct result of this decision, women will now be jailed for seeking abortion care while others will die because of pregnancy complications and unsafe self-abortion treatments.
National reaction: What Barack Obama, Mike Pence and others are saying about the end of Roe
“Adding insult to injury, Justice Alito and his colleagues in the majority have demonstrated a crushing ignorance about the historical rights of women under our Constitution – women were unenfranchised and regarded as property when our nation was founded. We should not strive to return to that dark era. Six radical justices, appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote, have destroyed nearly 50 years of established legal precedent upon which tens of millions of people in this country have relied. In Roe’s place, the justices’ personal beliefs will impose unimaginable suffering for women and families across the country and worsen America’s already abysmal generational poverty crisis.”
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (Republican)
“Regardless of this Supreme Court decision, access to these services will continue to remain safe, accessible, and legal in New Hampshire,” said Governor Chris Sununu.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (Democrat)
“This decision is a fundamental assault on women’s rights and on reproductive freedom that will do nothing to stop abortion. In fact, it will only make abortion less safe and jeopardize the lives of women across the nation. In Maine, I will defend the right to reproductive health care with everything I have, and I pledge to the people of Maine that, so long as I am Governor, my veto pen will stand in the way of any effort to undermine, rollback, or outright eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine.”
NH State Sen. Tom Sherman, Democratic candidate for NH governor
"I trust women to make their own medical decisions, and I will fight to codify into New Hampshire law the right to a safe and legal abortion,” said Sen. Tom Sherman, MD, a Rye Democrat. “Access to safe abortions and contraceptives have allowed women to grow their careers and make choices that are right for them and their families.
Yet those rights are being attacked across the country, and just last year Gov. Sununu signed New Hampshire’s first abortion ban into law that made no exceptions for rape or incest or fatal fetal anomalies. Sununu's attacks on women’s rights are cruel, and they’re not New Hampshire. I will fight to make sure the Live Free or Die state honors women’s right to make their own medical decisions, even if DC or New Hampshire Republicans try and institute further abortion bans.”
Sandi Denoncour, executive director of the Lovering Health Center
“We know that the majority of New Hampshire citizens support the right to access safe and legal abortion care. The elected officials in our state over the next few years will have a significant impact on whether or not full-scope reproductive healthcare is defended and protected. This is not only about abortion. It is not only about protecting those who can become pregnant. This is about protecting the right for all citizens to make their own healthcare choices. That includes partners, families, and anyone else who loves and lives in New Hampshire. We provide services to help everyone take control of their health and this decision impacts us all.
Cynthia Bear, MD, chairperson of Lovering Health Center’s Board of Directors
“As an OB/GYN physician, I have witnessed firsthand how important it is for women to be able to make this decision for themselves and their families. The Board of the Lovering Health Center is committed to ensuring that all those in need of services get the care they need and want. We will support our staff who make it possible for our patients to get the contraceptive management, preventative screenings (Paps), STI testing, treatment and prevention, including services for transgender and non-binary individuals that they need in addition to abortion care.”
Kayla Montgomery, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
Kayla Montgomery is vice president public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund.
“By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has now officially given politicians permission to control what we do with our bodies, deciding that we can no longer be trusted to determine the course for our own lives. This dangerous and chilling decision will have devastating consequences across the country, forcing people to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles for care or remain pregnant.
In New Hampshire, abortion is still safe and legal before 24 weeks. As the only state in New England without proactive protections for abortion rights, however, we know the future of access will depend upon each election and who holds power in Concord.
Make no mistake – this decision goes beyond abortion. This is about who has power over you, who has the authority to make decisions for you, and who can control how your future is going to be.
It is a dark day for our country, but this is far from over. We will not compromise on our bodies, our dignity, or our freedom. Granite Staters should know that Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund will always fight for you, and we will not back down. Together, we will rebuild and reclaim our freedom.”
NH state Rep. Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, House majority leader
“Last year, we passed legislation that put limits on the most extreme and unnecessary late-term abortions. A majority of Granite Staters and Americans oppose the idea of allowing abortion up until the very moment of birth, and our laws now affirm that sentiment. This year, the House passed additional legislation that upheld our basic values regarding this issue on a unanimous bipartisan vote. While today’s ruling returning complete authority over abortion back to the states where it belongs is a great triumph for Federalism, it does nothing to change the accessibility of these services in New Hampshire.”
Commentary by Dr. Miller: Will you join me in being both pro-life and pro-choice?
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Roe v. Wade: Abortion decision reactions from NH, Maine leaders
