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The former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, joins US senator Jeanne Shaheen, left, and the New Hampshire governor, Maggie Hassan, at a rally in Nashua on Sunday. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Hillary Clinton defended Democrats focus on womens rights on Sunday, as she returned to her old redoubt of New Hampshire to help the party keep hold of a crucial US Senate seat and maintain the states all-female congressional delegation.

In her first visit to the key presidential primary state since her 2008 campaign for the White House, the former US secretary of state also stoked speculation that she is readying another run in 2016, meeting voters at unannounced campaign stops.

Appearing at a rally in Nashua alongside Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Clinton attacked Shaheens opponent, Scott Brown, for past votes opposing legislation that would guarantee women equal pay and coverage for contraception in their health insurance.

It is just astonishing to me that were having a debate about whether or not our country believes in equal pay for equal work, said Clinton, noting that Jeannes opponent is sort of on record dismissing this issue.

Asked last month by Fox News to respond to Shaheens persistent criticism of his record on womens reproductive rights and economic security, Brown said: Unfortunately Im talking about issues that people care about.

Women working full-time in New Hampshire have median earnings of $41,542 a year, according to the American Association of University Women. This is 78% of the $52,954-a-year median earnings of men in the state. A similar ratio exists nationwide.

Clinton went on to tell the crowd that they should make sure fellow New Hampshire voters understand that at stake in this election is whether or not women have the right to make our own reproductive healthcare decisions.

New Hampshire Democrats have aggressively drawn attention to Browns co-sponsoring legislation, while previously representing Massachusetts in the Senate, to allow employers to decline on moral grounds to provide insurance covering contraception, as well as his vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Criticising opponents who raise questions about why do these Democrats go around talking about women, Clinton told a capacity crowd of 700 at a community college: Womens rights are on the frontier of freedom everywhere in the world.

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Hillary Clinton focuses on women's rights in New Hampshire campaign