Sununu signs law ending ultrasound mandate prior to most abortions
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May 24—CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu has signed the only abortion rights bill that both sides supported, narrowing the number of expectant mothers who must have an ultrasound prior to ending a pregnancy.
The change means the ultrasound won't be required unless a doctor has reason to believe the fetus is older than 24 weeks and can't be legally aborted.
With no fanfare late Friday, Sununu signed a bill (HB 1673) that passed both Republican-led chambers on voice votes.
It was the last one listed in the latest package of 55 bills the governor signed.
The current ban on late-term abortions — attached to the two-year state budget last session, which Sununu signed — required that all women seeking an abortion get an ultrasound regardless of the age of the fetus.
Within weeks of signing the ban, Sununu said the ultrasound mandate was too broad and should be limited.
In response, GOP legislative leaders early on in the 2022 session approved HB 1673, which limited the ultrasound to cases where medical experts think the fetus may be more than 24 weeks old.
This change takes effect immediately.
"For nearly six months, Granite Staters seeking abortion care have been needlessly forced to first undergo an ultrasound because extreme lawmakers slipped this government mandate into the state budget last year," said Kayla Montgomery, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. "To be clear, these procedures can be invasive and are not always medically necessary.
"We are grateful bipartisan lawmakers came together this year to listen to patients and providers and repeal this barrier to care that served only to shame women and put up roadblocks to accessing abortion."
Always the intent
Leaders with the socially-conservative Cornerstone Action and New Hampshire Right to Life both said the original intent of the ultrasound mandate was only to focus on cases of potential late-term abortions.
"It reiterates that an ultrasound is only required when there is a substantial risk the fetus is 24 weeks," said Cornerstone Action's Executive Director Shannon McGinley during a recent statement.
House Speaker Sherman Packard's leadership team attached this ultrasound change to the original bill from Durham Democratic Rep. Marjorie Smith that proposed to repeal the entire abortion ban.
In January, Sununu got behind legislation to exempt all cases of rape, incest and fetal abnormality from the late-term ban on abortions. For months the GOP-led House rejected all of those changes.
Then last month, mothers offered emotional testimony before a Senate committee about their experiences.
They all spoke about learning late in pregnancy that their fetuses had conditions that wouldn't allow the newborn to survive outside the womb.
In response, both the Senate and House passed a separate bill that exempted the fatal fetal conditions from the abortion ban (HB 1609).
That bill has yet to get to the governor's desk, though Sununu has vowed to sign it.
