Governor Pat McCrory officially put his name on a pro-life bill today that would stop abortions by helping pregnant women and stopping taxpayer financed abortions.
The bill would also subject abortion clinics to better health and safety laws that could wind up closing abortion facilities that are unable to comply and protect women’s health.
McCrory had threatened to veto abortion regulations that didn’t leave the rules to the judgment of the state health agency. The Republican governor said that the legislation crossed the line between protecting patient safety and restricting access to a legal medical procedure. McCrory said during his election campaign last fall that he would not sign any new abortion restrictions into law.
McCrory addressed that issue in a news release saying, “I would have vetoed HB 695 because it was clearly designed to restrict access. I am pleased that this new legislation is focused on the health and safety of women in North Carolina. These higher standards will result in safer conditions for North Carolina women. This law does not further limit access and those who contend it does are more interested in politics than the health and safety of our citizens.”
All day long, abortion activists barraged the governor with lobbying designed to persuade him to not sign the bill.
Planned Parenthood held a 12-hour vigil Monday, and plan to hold another one Tuesday, despite McCrory’s saying Friday he will sign the legislation the General Assembly passed last week.
The law addresses concerns about the administration of abortion inducing drugs and rules for abortion facilities, North Carolina Right to Life informs LifeNews. The pro-life provisions that were left intact after the compromise are: the opt out for abortion in the federal exchange and the city and county employee health plans, as well as the sex selection and web cam abortion bans.
“Thousands of unborn children’s lives will be protected from abortion,” stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life, “by preventing the expansion of tax payer funded abortion through the federal exchange. By passing this legislation, our state has also demonstrated that it will not tolerate unborn babies being aborted just because they are the wrong sex or doctors being miles away from the patient when they administer drugs that kill the unborn baby and can harm the child’s mother.”
The measure would prohibit sex selection abortions which 76% of North Carolinians support (Civitas March 2013 poll) and 85% of Americans support (Polling Company April 2013 poll). Some six states have already banned sex-selection abortions.
The bill includes an opt-out of abortion in the federal exchange and the city and county employee health plan except for the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest. An April 2011 CNN poll found 61% oppose public funding for abortion, consistent with other poll done by other groups and 22 other states have stopped abortion funding under the Obamacare exchange.
The measure would require abortionists to be physically present to prevent web cam abortions and the misuse of abortion inducing drugs.
North Carolina joins Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 19 other states, by opting out of abortion in the federal exchange; 14 states , by banning “web cam” abortions; and 6 states, by prohibiting sex selection abortions.
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An abortion clinic in the state was shut down this month for posing problems for women’s health. Last month, North Carolina officials allowed a southeast Charlotte abortion clinic to reopen, but vow they will closely monitor operations at A Preferred Woman’s Health Center. The abortion clinic was shut down in early May, the second time the clinic has lost its license.
The first occasion was in February 2007, when, as the Charlotte Observer reported, “state investigators found as many as 16 safety and regulatory issues at the clinic, according to a letter DHHS sent the clinic.”
More recently, investigators found that staffers were administering methotrexate (an abortifacient) in liquid form. The regimen requires that methotrexate be injected or taken in pill form.
