An Exercise in Courage and Persistence

By Roger Stenson

New Hampshire State Representative Tom Rice walked, slowly, into the committee room. He had just had back surgery a week and a half earlier and was ordered by his doctor to stay home for four weeks. "Don't go anywhere," he was told. Stay home for four weeks.

Not Tom Rice. Not when there was a vote on a parental notice bill in his Judiciary Committee. It was March 18. He was two weeks shy of his 80th birthday. He could not stand for any length of time. He could not sit in the committee chairs for any length of time. He could not drive himself to the committee voting session. He was in pain and needed assistance to go anywhere.

All he asked for was a ride in a comfortable car, big enough for him to get in and out of without hurting himself. He needed the car to wait for him so he could be taken home as quickly as possible.

The Judiciary Committee has 21 members. Two of them were out for the day. We needed a 10 to 9 vote to pass the bill out of committee.

They, the side that insists parents do not have a right to counsel their own minor daughters who have scheduled an abortion, were secure in their hearts. They had nine.

A 9 to 9 tie would mean the bill would get an "unfavorable recommendation" from the committee. Everybody knew that no bill with an unfavorable recommendation from the Judiciary Committee had passed the full New Hampshire House of Representatives in recent memory.

Without Tom Rice, we had nine.

Eighteen members sat around a U-shaped table waiting to vote on the parental notice bill. Then Tom Rice walked in, his feet not lifting off the floor so much as he put one in front of the other. He is pro-life, and they all knew it. Mouths dropped. "H . . . h . . . h . . . hi, Tom," said a couple of the pro-abortion activists on the committee. Faces turned ashen. "Great to see you, Tom," said others who actually were glad to see him.

There was a lot of discussion. Eventually the time came. A vote was taken. Our bill received an "Ought to Pass" recommendation from the Committee by the 10 to 9 vote.

Tom's vote was the crucial 10th.

Exactly one week later, the House of Representatives passed parental notice by another slim margin - - 187 to 181. That's not a misprint. New Hampshire has 400 members in its House of Representatives, making it the third-largest legislature on the planet. The importance cannot be overstated. This is the first time in the 30 years since Roe v. Wade that a major pro-life bill has passed either chamber of the New Hampshire legislature. Pro-life members on the floor of the House cheered.

The press was stunned. After all, parental notice or consent had probably failed a dozen times before. But it passed because of hard work, hard work done responsibly.

One representative in particular carried the enormous burden of leading the floor fight and lining up enough votes to win. Phyllis Woods was that architect. She's the chairman of our Pro-Life Caucus in the legislature.

Our New Hampshire organization, Citizens for Life, worked the phones, getting thousands of calls in to representatives from their constituents. And we had the facts to promote the bill.

We took information from other state affiliates of National Right to Life and combined it with our own into a succinct fact sheet given to each member of the House and the press. It helped frame the discussion because it presented incontrovertible proof that parental notice is desirable, solid policy - - and that it works.

We met with our new pro-life governor, Craig Benson, who agreed to address the House Republican Caucus on the morning of the floor vote. He could not get back in time to make his comments in person, but sent a letter of strenuous support through Phyllis Woods that was read to the caucus.

Now the bill is in the state Senate, where we start all over again. But this is a family bill, a parents' rights bill on which 83% of adults agree. There are other heroes who worked, some behind the scenes, to carry the day when parental notice passed the House. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.

It had not been easy to call Tom Rice three days before the committee vote to ask, "I have an extraordinary request to make of you, Representative Rice." But he is a man of truth and heroism. Rather than complain or use his surgery as an excuse, he thanked me for asking! What a courageous display of hard work and devotion to accomplish what is right. New Hampshire, like every other state, is blessed to have such champions.