Sweeping Anti-Abortion Bill Passes North Carolina Senate

Turns out Texas and Ohio are not alone in launching last minute attacks on women’s health care – North Carolina now joins the ranks. In North Carolina, anti-abortion legislators are flying under the radar by tacking on egregious abortion restrictions to a completely unrelated bill. HB 695 was essentially a ban on applying foreign law and in particular Sharia law in North Carolina matters. Yet, overnight this bill was transformed into a sweeping anti-abortion bill, which contains multiple provisions that weren’t otherwise moving through the legislature.

The bill popped up in the State Senate without public notice on Tuesday evening and today the Senate passed the bill. The bill attempts to shut down abortion clinics by imposing unnecessary, costly, and burdensome requirements – just one clinic in the state could meet the requirements. The bill would also prohibit women in the new health care marketplace from purchasing a comprehensive health plan that includes coverage of abortion and allow any health care provider to refuse to provide abortion services even for women whose life is endangered.

As the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina said, “they’re trying to pull a Texas.” Enough is enough. Our legislators should be working to increase access to health care, not limit it, and they should be transparent and open about their true intentions. This sweeping anti-abortion bill feels like a procedural trick and we will not stand for it.