Shaheen Hosts Virtual Roundtable with NH Family Planning Providers & Vows to Defend Women’s Reproductive Rights Amid State Republicans’ Assault

Later in Moultonborough: Shaheen Discusses Granite State Summer Tourism Season during Visit to Castle in the Clouds

Shaheen visits Castle in the Clouds

(Manchester, NH) – This morning, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) hosted a virtual roundtable with local family planning providers, which comes only one day after State Republican lawmakers forced biennial budget legislation through the State legislature with dangerous anti-choice provisions. The budget bill, which cleared the House and Senate yesterday, will make sharp cuts in funding to clinics that offer critical reproductive health care services to thousands of Granite Staters, particularly low-income women. It also will impose a reckless abortion ban and invasive requirements that would undermine women’s personal health care decisions and interferes in patient-doctor relationships.

The roundtable can be viewed here.

“The assault levied against New Hampshire women yesterday is unconscionable and should be a wakeup call that New Hampshire Republicans will stop at nothing to roll back women’s reproductive rights. Their assault on women’s health is a despicable reminder about what is at stake for women’s health care and how urgent it is to provide family planning clinics and programs with the resources they need to help our community members, now more than ever before,” said Shaheen. “In our conversation today, we discussed how critical the Title X program is for the sustainability of family planning resources throughout the state. I will continue to pull every lever in Congress to deliver the financial assistance our family planning providers need to deliver assistance to Granite State women and will fight every effort to undermine women’s reproductive freedoms. From the current attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court to these heinous attacks at the state level, it is clear that Republicans from New Hampshire to Washington will stop at nothing to strip women of their reproductive rights. It is time to sound the alarm.”  

This morning, Senator Shaheen also sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to provide support to New Hampshire family planning providers who will lose state funding under the New Hampshire budget bill. This support is critically needed to help these providers bridge the gap in funding until the Biden administration can complete its action to reverse the Trump administration’s “Title X Gag Rule,” which has shut out the majority of New Hampshire family planning providers from receiving federal grants.

Senator Shaheen is an unrelenting advocate for women’s reproductive rights. Senator Shaheen has fought for years to increase coverage of women’s preventative care, including through her legislation to reduce the cost of contraception for servicewomen and dependents in military families. Shaheen has also advocated for repealing the Global Gag Rule, which bans federal funds for foreign non-governmental organizations that use non-U.S. funds to provide abortion services or provide information about abortion as part of comprehensive family planning services. Heeding Shaheen’s calls, the Biden administration issued an executive order reversing the rule. She has also supported efforts in Congress in opposition to the domestic Gag Rule, a Trump administration policy that restricted women’s access to reproductive health services at centers funded by the Title X program, which the Biden administration moved to reverse in April. Earlier this month, Shaheen and Hassan introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would guarantee a pregnant person’s right to access an abortion—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship. 

Later in Moultonborough, Shaheen visited Castle in the Clouds to discuss the ongoing summer tourism season in New Hampshire and highlight the critical impact federal relief from COVID-19 response legislation has had in helping the state’s tourism and hospitality industries stay afloat and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Built in 1913, Castle in the Clouds is a historic estate and an iconic destination for visitors to the Lakes Region. During the visit, Shaheen heard more about how federal programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans helped the site stay open during the pandemic and what it and other seasonal operations are experiencing as they reopen for the summer tourism season.

“Castle in the Clouds is one of many Granite State cultural institutions that have faced significant challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal relief programs I fought to create and strengthen like the PPP and EIDL helped this historic attraction stay afloat during this crisis and thankfully, they are finally seeing the light of what has been a very long tunnel,” said Shaheen. “I enjoyed meeting with Castle in the Clouds staff this morning to discuss the challenges they have faced during the pandemic, how federal relief funding allowed them to keep their doors open and retain staff on payroll and what they are seeing as they resume normal operations for the summer tourism season. Small businesses and non-profit entities in New Hampshire’s hospitality and tourism industries serve as pillars of our state’s economy, which is why I’ll continue to fight to secure the resources and support they need to recover in the weeks and months ahead.”

Shaheen has worked to provide small businesses with the resources they need to weather and recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. She helped lead negotiations on provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was signed into law in March 2020 to assist small businesses and established the Paycheck Protection Program and expanded the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. Both of these programs have been lifelines for businesses throughout New Hampshire and the country.