Guinta’s Record on Abortion at Odds with Stump Rhetoric
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 08:38AM NHInsider was sent this "In Case You Missed it" email regarding Frank Guinta and his campaign for the Republican nomination for the NH Congressional District 1 US House seat, currently occupied by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D). There are a number of candidates for the Republican nomination including Sean Mahoney, Rich Ashoof, Bob Bestani and Peter Bearse to name a few.
Guinta’s Record on Abortion at Odds with Stump Rhetoric
August 30, 2010 by ShawnMillerick
Filed under News & Politics
When Republican congressional hopeful Frank Guinta (NH-01) talks about abortion on the campaign trail, he leads people to believe he is as hardcore on the issue as anyone. He even told Foster’s Daily Democrat recently that he is pro-life – with no exceptions.
Giunta rarely talks about his actual record on the issue, however. Perhaps that’s because Frank Guinta’s record on abortion, and other cultural issues, reveal that he has spent his career as a rigid social liberal who is out of step with conservatives in his party. In fact, one source tells NowHampshire.com that until this year, Guinta never even bothered to fill out a New Hampshire Right to Life candidate survey.
Far from being a pro-life state legislator, Guinta’s brief stint in the New Hampshire House shows he strongly supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion in virtually all cases.
Guinta served in the New Hampshire House in 2001 and 2002. He won re-election, but resigned his seat to work for Rep. Jeb Bradley. During that time Guinta voted against a measure that would have required parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion (HB 1380, 2002). He also opposed stronger protections for unborn babies to be written into the state’s negligent homicide statute HB 319, 2002).
Guinta opposed a civil rights bill for health care providers, which would have preserved a doctor’s right to conscience on the issue of abortion (HB 1209, 2001).
Guinta even opposed a bill to stop the sale of aborted fetal body parts (HB 602, 2001).
Abortion isn’t the only social issue on which Guinta was an unreconstructed liberal, though. For example, he voted to block a bill that would have allowed parents a say in whether their children were subject to sex education in classrooms (HB 1346, 2002).
And despite his anti-gay marriage rhetoric on the campaign stump, Guinta once voted to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states (HB 454, 2001).
Guinta has never offered a public explanation for his election-year conversion on social issues.
Reader Comments (3)
Far from being a pro-life state legislator, Guinta’s brief stint in the New Hampshire House shows he strongly supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion in virtually all cases.
Abortion is legal in this country whether or not you agree with it. I am a conservative and pretty fed up with abortion being part of the GOP platform. Unless you opposers plan to raise these children what gives you the right to force a woman to carry a child for 9 months and then raise it?
Most conservatives are far more concerned with jobs, the economy, terrorism and illegal immigration than they are with what a woman does with her reproductive organs.
For the record: I am not planning to vote for Guinta, I am voting for Ashooh.
That said, I have to address the question NHLady asked:
"what gives you the right to force a woman to carry a child for 9 months and then raise it? "
Unless the woman's legs are forced apart and she's raped, no one is forcing a baby on anyone. Sex is had by choice and if your old enough to have sex then chances are you understand what it can lead to. And for the 1 or 2 percent who do use protection and find it failed... there are same sex couples who would love to raise that child.
At some point in the process the egg inside the woman becomes an actual human life. The ONLY valid argument in favor of abortion is that we do not know when life begins. Early abortion can be defended under that argument but not late term. Late term abortion is nothing short of murder and if you (and I don't mean NHLady because I've read her views elsewhere on abortion and do not believe this applies to her) see nothing wrong with it then what makes it any different then killing a 2 or 3 month old baby? Where would the line be drawn?
I agree with you and you're correct about my stance on late-term abortion. Although it is hard to know when life begins, I saw an ultrasound of my son when I was a mere 9 weeks pregnant and he was fully formed and his heart was beating. It certainly made me rethink my stance on abortion. I am opposed to abortion but don't believe it should be part of politics. It's a personal decision.