HJR3: calling for the investigation and defunding of Planned Parenthood.

HJR 3 - AS INTRODUCED

2016 SESSION

16-2662

01/05

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 3

A RESOLUTION calling for the investigation and defunding of Planned Parenthood.

SPONSORS: Rep. Groen, Straf. 10; Rep. Baldasaro, Rock. 5; Rep. DeLemus, Straf. 11; Rep. Berube, Straf. 18; Rep. Ulery, Hills. 37; Rep. V. Sullivan, Hills. 16; Rep. Souza, Hills. 43; Rep. Seidel, Hills. 28; Rep. Notter, Hills. 21; Rep. Moore, Hills. 21

COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs

ANALYSIS

This house joint resolution calls for investigation and defunding of Planned Parenthood.

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16-2662

01/05

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen

A RESOLUTION calling for the investigation and defunding of Planned Parenthood.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

Whereas, video footage recorded by the Center for Medical Progress shows senior-level Planned Parenthood abortion doctors discussing Planned Parenthood's receipt of money for harvesting fetal tissue and body parts from aborted infants including hearts, livers, and lungs; and

Whereas, under federal law, it is illegal to "knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any fetal tissue for valuable consideration if the transfer affects interstate commerce." 42 U.S.C. 282g-2(a); and

Whereas, the video footage from the Center for Medical Progress raises substantial questions as to whether Planned Parenthood is illegally profiting from its collection and distribution of fetal tissue and the body parts from aborted infants; and

Whereas, video footage recorded by the Center for Medical Progress shows Planned Parenthood's senior medical director and other Planned Parenthood abortion doctors discussing altering abortion procedures to harvest fetal tissue and body parts from aborted infants including hearts, livers, and lungs; and

Whereas, federal law prohibits the "alteration of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy...solely for the purposes of obtaining the tissue." 42 U.S.C. 289g-1; and

Whereas, the video footage from the Center for Medical Progress raises substantial questions as to whether Planned Parenthood is violating federal law concerning the alteration of abortion procedures to harvest fetal tissue and the body parts from aborted infants; and

Whereas, many states have already opened investigations into Planned Parenthood's collection and distribution of fetal tissue and the body parts from aborted infants; and

Whereas, other video footage recorded at Planned Parenthood affiliates by the organization Live Action shows Planned Parenthood employees recommending that minors patronize abortion facilities that may be willing to violate state laws including parental involvement laws; and

Whereas, video footage recorded by Live Action at Planned Parenthood affiliates in several states and the District of Columbia shows a willingness by Planned Parenthood employees to circumvent state parental involvement laws concerning abortion; and

Whereas, the established policy of New Hampshire requires parental notification prior to abortion under RSA 132:32 - RSA 132:36; and

Whereas, many states have recently or are currently investigating abortion clinics and individual abortion providers for offenses including failure to meet medical standards and licensing requirements, violations of health and safety codes, improper disposal of medical waste and patient records, Medicaid fraud, violations of late-term abortion restrictions, criminal battery, and criminal and civil liability for the deaths of their patients; and

Whereas, a January 2011 Pennsylvania grand jury report investigating abortion provider Kermit Gosnell and the Women's Medical Society abortion clinic in Philadelphia revealed Gosnell's utter disregard for the law and documented a pattern of deadly behavior towards women and newborns; and

Whereas, the Pennsylvania grand jury report reveals that the Women's Medical Society abortion clinic received government funding; and

Whereas, the Pennsylvania grand jury report demonstrates a systemic failure to enforce laws designed to protect women's health and safety, noting there "were several oversight agencies that stumbled upon and should have shut down Kermit Gosnell"; and

Whereas, the deadly and illegal activities undertaken by Gosnell and the Women's Medical Society are not isolated incidents for the abortion industry; and

Whereas, video footage recorded by Live Action at Planned Parenthood affiliates in several states and the District of Columbia shows a willingness by Planned Parenthood employees to aid a man who claimed that he was involved in the sex-trafficking of girls as young as 14 years of age; and

Whereas, in 2003, the United States State Department estimated that 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold, or forced across international borders each year; and

Whereas, a 2001 report released by the University of Pennsylvania estimated that approximately 293,000 American youth are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation; and

Whereas, the average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12 to 14 years of age; and

Whereas, sex-trafficking is a form of slavery, and federal statutes, including 18 U.S.C., sections 1591, 2421, 2422, and 2423, prohibit sex tourism and the interstate and international sex trafficking of adults and children, as well as sex trafficking within a state; and

Whereas, numerous allegations have surfaced concerning the failure of Planned Parenthood affiliates to report the suspected sexual abuse of young girls; and

Whereas, New Hampshire requires the reporting of suspected sexual abuse; and

Whereas, Planned Parenthood affiliates in a number of states have disregarded state abortion-related laws including parental involvement and informed consent laws and faced adverse administrative actions for these violations; and

Whereas, some Planned Parenthood abortion clinics have violated state law by performing abortions without a license; and

Whereas, Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide admittedly dispense the dangerous abortion drug RU-486 in direct violation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protocol for the drug as well as the drug's label, endangering women's lives and health; and

Whereas, audit reports demonstrate that some Planned Parenthood affiliates have overbilled state and federal government health care and family planning programs; and

Whereas, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (the national parent organization with over 700 affiliated centers across the nation) and its affiliates received $528,400,000 in government grants and reimbursements for the fiscal year ending in June 2014; and

Whereas, Planned Parenthood affiliates have performed a significant percentage of the over 50 million abortions performed in the United States since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was decided; and

Whereas, as government funding of Planned Parenthood has doubled, Planned Parenthood has doubled its abortion business; and

Whereas, Planned Parenthood Federation of America has made clear the centrality of abortion to its mission by mandating that every Planned Parenthood affiliate must have at least one clinic performing abortions; and

Whereas, the decision not to fund abortion places no governmental obstacle in the path of a woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy. Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173, 201 (1991); and

Whereas, when the federal or a state government appropriates public funds to establish a program, it is entitled to define the limits of that program. Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173, 194 (1991); and

Whereas, the federal Congress' power of inquiry is "an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function." McGrain v. Daugherty, 272 U.S. 135, 174 (1927); and

Whereas, the issuance of a Congressional subpoena pursuant to an authorized investigation is "an indispensable ingredient of lawmaking." Eastland v. United States Servicemen's Fund, 421 U.S. 491, 505 (1975); now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

That the general court immediately freeze any currently allocated state funding for abortion providers, in particular the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates in New Hampshire; and

That the general court calls on Congress to freeze any currently allocated federal funding for abortion providers, in particular the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates; and

That the general court calls on the department of health and human services to conduct a full-scale investigation of abortion providers, including specifically Planned Parenthood, for potential violations of state laws, including violations related to the collection and distribution of fetal tissue and body parts from aborted infants, health and safety code violations, misuse of government funding, and other applicable state laws; and

That the general court calls on Congress to conduct an immediate, full-scale investigation of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for potential violations of laws governing the collection and distribution of fetal tissue and body parts from aborted infants; and

That the general court calls on Congress to conduct a full-scale investigation of abortion providers, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, for potential violations of federal laws including aiding and abetting sex-trafficking, misuse of federal funding, and urges Congress to use its subpoena power to obtain all business, medical, and other records necessary for a thorough and complete investigation; and

That the general court strongly supports federal legislation to defund the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and

That the general court strongly supports the federal "No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act" to ensure consistency with longstanding federal law and policy and the laws and policies of New Hampshire prohibiting government funding of abortion; and

That the general court strongly supports the federal "Title XAbortion Provider Prohibition Act" to ensure that federal family-planning funding does not subsidize the abortion industry by, for example, paying for shared overhead and operational costs; and

That the secretary of state of New Hampshire transmit a copy of this resolution to the governor; the President of the United States; the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and to each individual member of the congressional delegation.