North Carolina continues to act as one of the abortion debate’s biggest battlegrounds, and things are getting uglier as the state’s GOP lawmakers have introduced more anti-abortion regulations. But this time, the restrictions went almost unnoticed as House Republicans attached them to an unrelated bill that was supposed to promote motorcycle safety.
House Democrats were appalled to find out that a motorcycle bill introduced yesterday contained anti-abortion clauses, leaving many Democrats upset and enraged as they prepared for today’s debate on the bill. The state legislation in question would require abortion clinics to meet very strict licensing regulations and also demanded that doctors remain present for the entire procedure.
The bill comes on the heels of a similar one proposed by the Senate on Wednesday. Senate Republicans managed to attach abortion restrictions on to a bill that sought to ban Sharia Law, which eventually passed on a party-line vote. The GOP has since altered some parts of the bill, stating that doctors do not have to be present for the entire procedure.
Melissa Reid of Planned Parenthood Health Systems has responded with her own statement.
“It is a disgrace to North Carolina that legislators have again resorted to sneak attacks to move their anti-women’s health agenda forward,” she said. “Once again there was no public notice that this bill would be heard. The public and even many legislators on the committee only learned this was a possibility at 9:57 a.m. — three minutes before the committee was to meet — when a political reporter was tipped off and posted it on Twitter. This is outrageous and not how the people’s business should be conducted.”