Members of the North Carolina state House will soon hold a hearing on a key pro-life bill that will help reduce abortions by giving women more information about its risks and alternatives that they don’t normally receive.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee B will soon hold a hearing on the Woman’s Right to Know bill, H 854, that other states have passed and that has been proven to reduce abortions. When women are given information about abortion that Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses don’t routinely provide, they frequently consider alternatives.
North Carolina Right to Life president Barb Holt says the pro-life group strongly supports the legislation.
“This bill will provide women considering abortion with all the facts to make an informed decision 24 hours before an abortion,” she explained. “It will also ensure that she can view the ultrasound of her unborn child. Many women who later regret their abortions say seeing the ultrasound would have helped them choose birth rather than abortion for their unborn children.”
Holt says the bill will also ensure better enforcement of the state’s parental involvement law because it would “close a loophole that allows minors to forge their parent’s signature without the abortion provider having to verify that the parent has actually signed the consent for abortion form.”
“Similar laws in other states have saved many thousands of unborn children from abortion and their mothers from making a decision many later regret. We have the opportunity to save thousands of lives in our state by passing this bill,” Holt says.
Reps. Ruth Samuelson and Pat McElraft have introduced the Abortion-Woman’s Right to Know legislation, which Holt says is the top legislative priority for her group this session.
“Many women who undergo abortions later face years of psychological pain and trauma. Some experience physical problems. A woman needs to be aware that abortion does not offer an easy escape from her problems. Often, it only complicates them,” Holt said. “Informed consent legislation is not an attack on a personal freedom, but a guarantee of it. It is constitutionally and legally sound. It safeguards a woman’s right to know and to make informed decisions, helps protect physicians from lawsuits, and is a reasoned and compassionate response to the needs of concerned pregnant women.”
Holt indicates approximately 30,000 abortions are done annually in North Carolina and she believes there could be a few thousand less abortions after the law is enacted.
All bills must meet a May 12 crossover deadline by which they must be approved in one chamber of the legislature or they die for the session, which has Holt urging pro-life advocates to contact their state legislators today to urge support for the pro-life measure.
ACTION: Contact members of the House committee here.
