North Carolina NOW Legislative Update #15
10 May 2021
Very bad news on the abortion front. The House rammed though House Bill 453 that purports to ban abortion based on eugenics. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. A second abortion bill is also moving. Senate Bill 405 claims to prevent doctors from murdering babies born alive after an abortion procedure (something that is already illegal) has passed the Senate Health Care Committee. It is currently in the Senate Rules Committee, but it is eligible to be scheduled for a floor vote at any time.
Senate Bill 453 is especially insidious. It amends the law that prohibits abortion for sex selection by expanding it to include bans on abortion due to the race or suspected race of the fetus or due to the presence or presumed presence of Down syndrome. The proposed law is outrageously intrusive. The law prohibiting abortion for the purpose of sex selection simply bans the procedure if the physician knows or has reason to believe the abortion is being done for the purpose of sex selection. The proposed law is much stricter. It would require the physician to “confirm” that the woman is not seeking the abortion due to sex of the fetus, race of the fetus, or the presence or presumed presence of Down syndrome.
Under existing law a woman may choose whether or not to confide her reasons for having an abortion to her doctor, and the doctor is not required by law to interrogate her as a condition for treating her. House Bill 453 would change that.
Read the full report at https://bit.ly/3hlkySW
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