North Carolina
lawmakers in the state
House and Senate
reached veto-proof majorities on a new bill to ban
abortion
at 12 weeks.
The
legislation
came as a compromise and was introduced by 10 Republican female legislators.
North Carolina’s current abortion restrictions allow the procedure until 20 weeks gestation. As the Washington Examiner
reported
, North Carolina’s comparatively lax abortion laws have made the Tar Heel State a destination for abortion in the South.
DOBBS DECISION CREATED ‘ABORTION DESTINATIONS’ IN UNLIKELY RED STATES
The Care for Women, Children, and Families Act is being considered by the state House and Senate Wednesday and Thursday. Legislators are using an uncommon procedural move to have a joint-chamber meeting in order to send the bill quickly to the desk of Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC), who is expected to veto the bill.
Cooper took to Twitter to voice his opposition to the bill, which will likely see his veto overridden and be enacted into law as every House and Senate Republican has agreed to the bill. According to the Carolina Journal, four House Democrats are also
expected
to vote in favor of the measure.
“This proposal erodes even further the freedom of women and their doctors to make deeply personal health care decisions,” Cooper wrote. “I along with most North Carolinians are alarmed by the overreach of Republican politicians into people’s personal lives and I strongly oppose it.”
However, two polls show support among North Carolinians, one with 57%
support
for prohibitions on abortion after the first trimester, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. The other
shows
62% of voters in the state support a 12-week ban.
In addition to the ban on abortion beyond 12 weeks, the bill establishes an exception through 20 weeks for rape and incest and for fetal “life-limiting” anomalies at 24 weeks and retains an exception for the life of the mother for the duration of pregnancy.
The bill prohibits abortions based on the sex and race of the baby, as well as a Down syndrome diagnosis. It requires doctors to provide care to babies who survive a botched abortion procedure.
Doctors are threatened with a felony charge and a $250,000 fine if they do not provide care.
Republican state Sen. Joyce Krawiec said the bill is “beginning the process of creating a culture that values life, and that’s something we can all be incredibly proud of.”
Following along with states such as Mississippi, Republicans are prioritizing child care and streamlined adoption and foster care services to make it easier for mothers and families to bring their babies to term.
The measure includes $75 million for child care expansion, $16 million to reduce infant and maternal mortality, $20 million for state employee maternity and paternity leave, $59 million for foster care and children’s homes, and $3 million to help parents complete community college.
During the legislative discussion Wednesday morning, several Democratic members voiced their opposition, including Democratic state Rep. Ashton Wheeler Clemmons, who was holding back tears, saying, “Another member of my caucus said, ‘I’ve never felt so emotional,’ and that’s how I feel today.”
Democratic state Rep. Becky Carney said many members of her family texted and emailed her Wednesday morning concerned about the abortion bill.
Calling it “the most egregious bill that has not seen the light of day in its current form until this morning,” Carney criticized the process as being undemocratic. “I’m begging, please step back, take a pause” to have more time to discuss the bill.
Replying to Carney and other Democrats, Republican state Sen. Vickie Sawyer said, “I hear a mischaracterization of this bill as a ban on abortion, as anti-woman, anti-democratic.”
“We’ve had these discussions. We know what you would have said if we came to you,” she continued. “You never would have voted for these bills.”
“I reject what I am hearing today that this bill is anti-woman and anti-democratic,” she concluded, noting that Democrats would continue to have their voices heard “when we override the veto.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
SBA Pro-Life America Southern Regional Director Caitlin Connors said, “Allowing abortion up to 20 weeks, halfway through pregnancy and well past the point science shows an unborn child can feel pain, is not acceptable to the people of North Carolina.”
“They are compassionate and rightly concerned with their state becoming an abortion destination. In the months after the Dobbs Supreme Court victory, some states moved swiftly to strengthen protections for unborn children and mothers, but under pro-abortion extremists like Roy Cooper and Josh Stein, North Carolina fell behind.”
