November 30, 2005
Statement of Diana Braun, Executive Director,
Feminist Health Center of Portsmouth, Inc.,
Plaintiff,
Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England et al.
As Executive Director of the Feminist Health Center of Portsmouth, I lead a dedicated staff that has been providing reproductive health services for 25 years in southern New Hampshire. We offer basic gynecological care, health education, menopause counseling, primary care, abortion care services, and family planning services, which include contraceptive counseling, pregnancy testing and options counseling, and emergency contraception. We also provide confidential sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing and HIV testing for men and women. In 2003, we brought the lawsuit — along with Concord Feminist Health Center, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Dr. Wayne Goldner — challenging a new New Hampshire law that dangerously restricts teens' access to abortion. We joined the case because of the threat the law poses to teens across the state.
The law at issue restricts teens' access to abortion and needlessly endangers their health. Under this law, doctors would be required to notify a parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion for a teen under the age 18 even if she is facing a medical emergency. Denying or delaying an abortion for a teen facing a medical crisis can lead to liver or kidney dysfunction, infertility, blindness, or chronic pain. By failing to include a medical emergency exception, New Hampshire legislators callously turned their backs on teens' health when they passed this dangerous measure.
No parent wants his or her daughter's health put at grave risk by the law. As reproductive health care providers, we need to be able to respond to medical emergencies in a timely and medically appropriate manner. We are hopeful that when the Supreme Court decides this case, it will act to protect women's health.
