Councilors Challenge Planned Parenthood Contract

Three Executive Councilors have taken legal action to stop access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood centers in New Hampshire. Councilors David Wheeler, Dan St. Hilaire and Ray Wieczorek joined forces with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in an attempt to void a federal grant awarded to Planned Parenthood for family planning services.

The federal government had stepped in and awarded the grant after the Executive Council left 16,000 New Hampshire residents without access to vital health care services including cervical cancer screenings, breast exams and sexually transmitted infections.

In the legal filing, the councilors claim the federal grant is “improper, irregular, unnecessary, in contravention of the authority of the Executive Council and its duly elected members, and in disregard for the sovereignty of the State of New Hampshire.” 

“We decided to pursue this right after we found out the long arm of Washington came in to contravene the decision we made… ,” Wieczorek said. “We’ve got a constitution in this country — the 10th amendment — we have state’s rights.”

St. Hilaire said he was contacted by ADF about signing the letter. “The legal counsel contacted us and said they wanted to file a letter and asked us to sign off on it,” which he did, he said.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian legal organization founded by high-profile Religious Right leaders including D. James Kennedy and James Dobson. The ADF is known for promoting “marriage protection,” exposing the “homosexual agenda” and fighting the supposed “war on Christmas.”

Who’s Being Arrogant and Heavy Handed?

When the Executive Council refused to renew a contract with Planned Parenthood to provide family planning services for low-income New Hampshire families, the Department of Health and Human Services stepped in and awarded a replacement grant.

Councilors Raymond Wieczorek and David Wheeler, who voted to reject the Planned Parenthood contract, expressed outrage over the federal government’s “heavy hand” and arrogance in overriding the Council’s position. The Valley News takes them to task:

Let’s talk about arrogance. Three councilors voted to deny a respected nonprofit the grant money on which it relies to provide free and subsidized health services, including contraception, cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

By opposing not only the state contract with Planned Parenthood but also the federal role in providing assistance for family planning, the executive councilors betray their real intent. They seek to prevent women from having abortions, and they are trying to hobble one of the country’s leading abortion providers. …

Executive councilors … think they know what’s best for women, whose legal right to an abortion is being threatened all over the country.

Talk about the heavy hand of the state.