New Hampshire leaders will vote Wednesday on the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood clinics for health care services, a determination that would affect many of the state’s low-income women.
The decision will come down to a swing vote from Chris Sununu, one of the five members of New Hampshire’s Executive Council and the leading Republican candidate for governor this year.
The $549,000 Planned Parenthood contract would provide nearly 12,000 state residents with STD screenings, breast exams, and access to contraception. The contract does not include any funds for abortion services.
Sununu, 41, leads the GOP field in a recent poll of the race to succeed Governor Maggie Hassan, who is running for US Senate. The top Democrat in the race, Colin Van Ostern, 37, also serves on the Executive Council.
Sununu voted against the Planned Parenthood contract in 2015, when the organization was battling videos that purported to show showed its officials discussing the sale of human tissue from abortion fetuses. So far this year, Sununu has not said how he will vote on the contract.
“I am in the process of reviewing the proposed contract and continuing to talk and listen to people on the matter,’’ Sununu said in a statement on Tuesday.
Van Ostern has trumpeted his support for the contract, scheduling a press conference on the State House steps immediately before the vote. Last weekend, he sent a e-mail fund-raising appeal on his support for Planned Parenthood.
But Sununu faces a political predicament with his vote, according to local Republicans.
Republican consultant Jim Merrill said Sununu is between a rock and a hard place.
“A vote for the contract will rightfully anger pro-life voters, some of whom may already be skeptical of Chris, giving them a strong incentive in an unsettled race to look more closely at his three primary opponents,’’ Merrill said. “However, a vote against the contract gives Democrats a powerful and visible tool, likely backed by plenty of money, to use against Chris in the general.’’
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his daily e-mail update on the 2016 campaign at www.bostonglobe.com/ groundgame
