GOP State Rep: Ayotte’s Senate Record Shows How She Will Govern on Reproductive Freedom

GOP State Rep: Ayotte’s Senate Record Shows How She Will Govern on Reproductive Freedom

A new op-ed from Rep. Katelyn Kuttab, an ally of former Senator Kelly Ayotte, responds to warnings raised by parents and leading women’s health advocates about the clear threat that Ayotte poses to reproductive freedom in New Hampshire.

In the column, Rep. Kuttab urges New Hampshire voters to disregard the threat Ayotte poses to reproductive freedom because of “what [Ayotte] did working across the aisle for women in the U.S. Senate.”

In addition to leading the charge to pass a national abortion ban, voting to defund Planned Parenthood, and working to make birth control more expensive for women, the Union Leader reported last month that it was during this time in the U.S. Senate that Ayotte:

• “…consistently opposed universal access to IVF under the Affordable Care Act and tried to let insurers and employers exclude IVF and other medical procedures from required coverage.”
• “…co-sponsored legislation in 2011 to deny coverage for these procedures if the ‘sponsor, issuer or other entity of the plan’ had contrary religious beliefs.”
• “…signed onto the so-called Blunt Amendment to expand a rights-of-conscience clause in the ACA. Analysts said this would have applied not just to IVF, but also to contraception, blood transfusions, vaccines or anything else employers deemed a violation of their faith.”

After losing re-election to the Senate, Ayotte continued her campaign against reproductive freedom, proudly serving as the “sherpa” for then-nominee to the Supreme Court Judge Neil Gorsuch, whose confirmation ushered in the extreme anti-choice majority that would go on to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Former senator Kelly Ayotte’s allies keep encouraging voters to look at her record in Washington — and we wholeheartedly agree,” said Democratic Governors Association Deputy Communications Director Izzi Levy. “In the U.S. Senate, Ayotte did more than enough for New Hampshire women, including work to restrict their access to fertility treatment, drive up the cost of contraception, and strip away their right to get an abortion. Voters know that Kelly Ayotte has a proven record of attacking their most fundamental freedoms, and that anything she says now to the contrary is more proof she can’t be trusted.”

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