Today, the New Hampshire House voted to uphold the Governor’s veto of House Bill 217, effectively killing this piece of legislation that could have greatly impacted the New Hampshire infertility community’s access to care.
Click the image for the complete overview of House Bill 217’s defeat.
A Special Message from Our Executive Director, Erin Lasker:
On behalf of RESOLVE New England, I want to thank all of our many volunteers, members and professional colleagues for raising your voices in New Hampshire. We thank you for your emails, your phone calls, your tweets and your Facebook shares over the past two months; clearly, today’s developments in the New Hampshire House prove that grassroots advocacy works – and we couldn’t have done it without you. We have each and every one of you to thank for the defeat of House Bill 217.
We are deeply grateful for everyone who took the time to spread the word and make a difference in New Hampshire. I would also like to recognize the efforts of Catherine Tucker, who worked tirelessly to keep an open dialogue with New Hampshire legislators on the legal implications of how House Bill 217 could irreparably impact the infertility community of New Hampshire. We also wish to thank the efforts of Dr. Judy Stern, Director of Human Embryology and Andrology Laboratory at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. RESOLVE New England also thanks RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies for their vocal opposition to House Bill 217 and their continued support of our efforts in New Hampshire.
We thank every person who helped spread the message in New Hampshire that people with infertility matter. Our message was loud, clear and more importantly – heard.
On behalf of RESOLVE New England, I want to personally thank New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and the members of the House for recognizing the importance of the New Hampshire infertility community’s access to care in their home state. We applaud all legislators and officials who recognized that House Bill 217 was not medically sound nor grounded in medical science.
RESOLVE New England remains opposed to any and all forms of legislation that may pose a direct threat or barrier to fertility treatments needed by as many as 7.3 million Americans living with infertility. We will continue to be the leading advocate for the infertility community of New England, as we have since 1974.
We hope you will celebrate this legislative victory with us by making a contribution to RESOLVE New England today: our advocacy efforts are working and your support of our advocacy initiatives throughout New England is vital.
We may have prevailed today in New Hampshire – but we know from experience we’ll have more legislative fights ahead. If we are to keep fighting to support the infertility community in New England, we need your help to keep going.
Thank you again to everyone who helped us achieve this victory in New Hampshire today.
In celebration,
Erin Lasker,
Executive Director, RESOLVE New England