Editor's note: This piece was co-authored by Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of NC Values Coalition.
Pro-life momentum is on display in North Carolina and across the nation just one year after the Supreme Court gave abortion policy back to the people and the democratic process. Americans, even in battleground states, are taking advantage of the ability to make their voices heard through their state legislators to protect unborn children at key stages of development in the womb.
North Carolina, conventionally a purple state, just recently joined half of the country that has embraced legal protections for our youngest brothers and sisters. In an incredible showing of dedication to mothers, babies, and families last month, the North Carolina General Assembly overrode pro-abortion extremist Gov. Cooper’s veto of a bill that protects children at 12 weeks.
Titled The Care for Women, Children, and Families Act, or SB20, this law will go into effect on July 1 and is projected to save over 3,000 lives annually in North Carolina.
The fact that SB 20 is now law in North Carolina proves that state voters recognize the humanity of the unborn child as backed by science. Sixty-two percent of North Carolinians support protecting babies by at least 12 weeks, when major organs have formed and the heart has already beat more than 10 million times. Ultrasounds reveal that at this gestational age, babies can suck their thumbs, have a right-or-left-hand preference, and even have all prominent facial features such as the nose, cheeks, eyes, and ears. Their teeth are developing, their body responds to touch, and they can hear their mother’s voice.
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Yet this beautiful victory for life was not easily won in the North Carolina Legislature. Not a single Democrat supported SB 20, despite its popularity among voters and scientific backing. And of course, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the legislation after its initial passage. Thankfully, at the end of the day, Republicans had a supermajority with the courage to override it.
It goes to show the dire importance of electing pro-life leaders – legislators, attorneys general, and especially governors – who understand and act on the will of the people. Democratic legislators, even on the state level, governors like Roy Cooper, and hope-to-be governors like Josh Stein are extreme on the abortion issue, bowing to the radical left-wing agenda of abortion on demand, up until birth, paid for by taxpayers – a position that contrasts with seven in 10 Americans who want to see protections in place for unborn babies. They’re even out of touch with one third of rank and file Democrat voters in North Carolina.
While it is unfortunately not shocking that Democrats in the thrall of a fringe base would oppose this lifesaving law, their inability to name one single limit on abortion that they would support is alarming. Not only will this law protect unborn children from painful late-term abortions, it will strengthen the health standards in place to protect women and children, while expanding the pro-life safety net for families in need.
SB 20 will place additional guardrails around dangerous mail-order abortion pills that increasingly hospitalize, or even lead to the death of, mothers undergoing “DIY” abortions without medical oversight. It will also protect babies that survive failed abortions by ensuring they are provided the same standard of medical care as any other baby born at the same gestational age.
This law will help to prevent the widespread coercion that pushes women into unwanted abortions. Recent data disturbingly reveals that over 60% of women who have had abortions faced high levels of pressure to do so – and deeply struggle with it, both physically and psychologically, after the fact.
And among many other life-affirming provisions that will take effect, SB 20 will also allocate $160 million for maternal health, childcare, parental leave, and community college assistance so that mothers and fathers can accomplish their goals without having to sacrifice their families in the process.
It is abhorrent that Democrats would strive to block and abolish these wholesome, lifesaving, and tangible benefits for North Carolinians to impose – let’s face it – a pro-abortion agenda. Thankfully, the pro-life movement is just getting started one year into this new era for life in America. We are far from backing down and are willing to roll up our sleeves and put in the work for as long as it takes to ensure that North Carolina families – and families across the entire country – enjoy the real and lasting effects that come with the respect, value, and protection of life.
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