NH hiding records on potentially unlawful funding, failure to regulate Planned Parenthood

CONCORD, N.H. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court Wednesday to release all documents related to the state’s funding of abortion facilities and its continuing failure to regulate them. In June, a lower court ruled the state partially release some of its documents.

“The people of New Hampshire deserve to know how their government is spending their hard-earned tax money and if that money is being funneled to groups that are misusing it,” said Michael Tierney, one of more than 2,600 private attorneys allied with ADF. “The remaining documents which have not been released by the state are critical in determining the state’s apparent complicity with abortionists to minimize regulatory oversight and their disregard of FDA safety protocols.”

In addition to nearly $900,000 a year in federal funding, Planned Parenthood had also been receiving more than $350,000 a year in state funding, but the state is unwilling to disclose state records regarding the distribution of those funds. The brief to the state Supreme Court asks for the release of the remaining records.

The court also did not order the disclosure of documents the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office received from abortionists regarding the state’s defense of its law that places speech censorship zones around abortion facilities as well as documents related to the Board of Pharmacy’s ongoing licensing of Planned Parenthood to distribute the RU-486 drug in a manner that violates FDA safety protocols, required under state law since 2006. The appeal asks for the release of these documents.

“The State agencies unlawfully delayed production of documents, refused to produce the requested documents or, in many cases, even give reasons for the non-disclosure,” explains the brief in New Hampshire Right to Life v. New Hampshire Director of Charitable Trusts.

“‘Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people,’” the brief continues, citing the purpose of the legislature’s right-to-know law.

“New Hampshire should be transparent about the money it gives Planned Parenthood -- especially since the abortion giant is already the subject of repeated state and federal audits and whistleblower lawsuits for waste, abuse, and potential fraud of taxpayer dollars,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Catherine Glenn Foster. “The New Hampshire Supreme Court should release of all of the other documents the state refused to produce to determine if state laws were violated and taxpayer funds abused.”

• Pronunciation guide: Tierney (TEER’-nee)

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
 

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