Let's Talk About Arrogance & the Heavy Hand of the State

by: William Tucker

Fri Sep 23, 2011 at 16:40:41 PM EDT

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.