New Hampshire Retirees Call Out Kasich, Show Support for Planned Parenthood

For Immediate Release: Nov. 24, 2015

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Washington, DC -- New Hampshire residents at the RiverWoods Retirement Community yesterday called out Ohio Governor John Kasich’s unpopular anti-Planned Parenthood platform during one of his campaign events in Exeter. As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, “The crowd at the Riverwoods Retirement Community in Exeter protested Thursday with “no’s,” when Kasich said he wanted to defund Planned Parenthood....” Read the full story here.

Protests by those at the RiverWoods Retirement Community reflect overall public opinion in New Hampshire, showing voters overwhelmingly support safe and legal abortion.  A poll conducted this summer by Hart Research specifically showed 66 percent of New Hampshire voters oppose restricting access Planned Parenthood’s preventive health services, including 72 percent of Independents.

Public support for Planned Parenthood’s services and safe and legal abortion show that extreme, anti-abortion agendas like Kasich’s and New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte’s will not fly in New Hampshire.  

Some surveys show New Hampshire as having the highest number of residents in the country who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases:

• American Values Atlas that shows New Hampshire is actually more in favor of access to safe and legal abortion than the national average.

• The American Values Atlas also shows that New Hampshire has the highest percentage of residents in the country who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases (73%).

• Exit polls from 2012 show that New Hampshire is one of the most pro-choice states in the country.

• Another poll from Suffolk on Republican primary voters states: "A slight plur­al­ity of the state’s 2016 GOP primary voters, 49 per­cent, describe them­selves as ‘pro-choice’ on the is­sue of abor­tion, while 41 per­cent called them­selves ‘pro-life.’”

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

“I’m very fearful that through these wild accusations a very important program is going to be diminished or eliminated,” the questioner said.

Kasich called the organization’s activity “very, very negative” but said he wanted to use federal dollars to pay for women’s health elsewhere.

“I don’t think we can look the other way in terms of what Planned Parenthood has done,” he told a man who asked about the family health program.

“What have they done?” the man replied. Others echoed him.

“Selling body parts,” Kasich said.

Around the room, there were exclamations of protest. “No,” a handful of those in the crowd yelled.