North Carolina Republicans have just reached an agreement to pass a new law banning abortions in the state after 12 weeks.
The new law not only restricts abortions, but also protects medical professionals who refuse to participate in administering abortions on the basis of religious grounds.
Here’s more from CNN:
Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly have reached a deal on legislation that would place restrictions on most abortions after 12 weeks.
Senate Bill 20, dubbed the “Care for Women, Children and Families Act,” bans any licensed physician from performing surgical abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. It provides exceptions in the case of rape and incest through 20 weeks of pregnancy or in the event of a “life-limiting anomaly” through 24 weeks.
Under current state law, abortions are legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. A reduction to 12 weeks would be significant but less restrictive than some other GOP-led states that have recently enacted six-week or near-total bans on the procedure.
The bill would additionally prohibit any health care provider who objects to abortion “on moral, ethical, or religious grounds” from being required to participate in medical procedures that would result in an abortion.
“The refusal of a physician, nurse, or health care provider to perform or participate in these medical procedures shall not be a basis for damages for the refusal or for any disciplinary or any other recriminatory action against the physician, nurse, or health care provider,” it states.
It also calls for in-person examination by physicians seeking to prescribe or administer abortion-inducing drugs and prohibits people within the state from mailing such drugs to a pregnant woman. This comes as a legal battle over mifepristone, one drug used in many nonsurgical abortions, looms over the US Supreme Court.
The House is expected to take up a final vote on the bill Wednesday and the Senate is expected to vote on Thursday, according to CNN affiliate WTVD.
North Carolina has been a haven of sorts for women seeking abortion care as southern states tightened restrictions after the Supreme Court sent the issue of abortion rights back to the states. The anti-abortion lobbying group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America praised the legislative deal, saying it will “lessen abortion tourism in the state.”
The bill isn’t exactly what I would have wanted but it’s a lot better than it was in terms of preventing more unborn baby murders, and protecting Christians from retribution if they don’t want to participate in abortions.
I also like the fact that it keeps doctors from blindly prescribing these baby murdering drugs, meaning women can’t get these drugs in the mail. I think forcing women to go to the doctor may prevent more of these abortions from happening.
Hopefully the law will only get better in the future, as it did in Florida recently. But until then will call this a victory-in-progress.