By Dave Andrusko
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory
A multi-pronged pro-life bill that meets all of the objectives for this legislative session of North Carolina Right to Life is on its way to Gov. Pat McCrory.
On Thursday the Senate voted 32-13 to approve Senate Bill 353, a House-rewrite that addresses concerns raised by the governor and by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The Senate vote followed an Action Alert sent out by North Carolina Right to Life.
SB 353 contains multiple pro-life provisions that would save the lives of unborn children from abortion by banning sex selection abortions, opts out of abortion coverage in the federal health exchanges and in city and county employee health plans, and requires physicians to be physically present when administering abortion-inducing chemicals thereby preventing abortions being performed via web-cams.
“What is wrong with reasonable standards?” said Sen. Thom Goolsby, according to the Charlotte Observer. “In light of the multiple abortion clinics closed in our state and in Philadelphia – what’s the matter with a little bit of reason?”
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“I care about women,” Goolsby continued. “I think my record very much shows that. If you can show me something (in the bill) that will hurt women I will not vote for this.”
More specifically, SB 353
· Prohibits sex selection abortions, a ban which 76% of North Carolinians support.
· Opts out of abortion in the federal insurance “exchange” (established by ObamaCare) and the city and county employee health plan except for the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest.
· Requires abortionists to be physically present when the woman receives the first of the two drugs that make up the RU486 chemical abortion technique
· Requires information to be available to mothers who get a poor pre-natal diagnosis,
· Make requirements that abortion clinics must meet requirements similar to but not identical to those required of ambulatory surgical centers, and
· Expands to “any other health care provider” the protection afforded doctors and nurses who refuse to participate in abortions.
If Gov. McCrory signs the bill, North Carolina will become the sixth state to ban sex-selection abortion, the 14th to ban web-cam abortions by requiring the abortionist to be with the woman when she takes the first abortifacient; and the 22nd to opt out of abortion coverage in the federal exchanges established under ObamaCare.
Said Mary Spaulding Balch, JD, NRLC Director of State Legislation, “The vast majority of the citizens of North Carolina support these reasonable provisions. Governor McCrory should recognize this by signing this bill into law.”
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