|
Legislation to Watch
Prevention First! NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina believes that we should promote a culture of freedom and personal responsibility by focusing on preventing unintended pregnancies and reducing the need for abortion through increasing access to family planning services, access to affordable birth control and by providing comprehensive age appropriate sex education. Learn more about the legislation affecting reproductive choice in North Carolina. |
| Pro-Choice Legislation: |
| Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault - HB 961 |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 961 (= S968) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com; will be reintroduced in 2009 |
| Sponsor(s): |
Faison; Earle; Howard; Harrison; Adams; Alexander; Allen; Allred; Barnhart; Bell; Bordsen; Braxton; Brisson; Bryant; Carney; Coates; Cole; Coleman; Cunningham; Dickson; England; Farmer-Butterfield; Fisher; Glazier; Goforth; Goodwin; Haire; Hall; T. Harrell; J. Harrell; Hill; Holliman; Insko; Jeffus; Love; Luebke; Martin; McAllister; McLawhorn; Owens; Parmon; Ross; Saunders; Sutton; Tucker; Underhill; Wainwright; E. Warren; Weiss; Williams; Womble; Wray; |
This bill would ensure that survivors of sexual assault receive emergency contraception on-site in hospital emergency departments.
|
| Compassionate Care/Victims of Sexual Assault - SB 968 |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 968 (= H961) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com; will be reintroduced in 2009 |
| Sponsor(s): |
Janet Cowell; Linda Garrou; |
This bill would ensure that survivors of sexual assault receive emergency contraception on-site in hospital emergency departments.
|
| DHHS/Office of Men's Health. |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 243 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com |
| Sponsor(s): |
James Forrester; Stan Bingham; Peter Samuel (Pete) Brunstetter; Charlie S. Dannelly; Tony Foriest; W. Edward (Eddie) Goodall; David W. Hoyle; Ed Jones; William R. Purcell; Fred Smith; Richard Stevens; Jerry W. Tillman; |
| | Promotes prevention of HIV/STDs by establishing the Office of Men's Health within the Department of Health and Human Services to provide a comprehensive study of men's health, including outreach, treatment, and services for men at risk to contract sexually transmitted diseases. |
| Funds for Women's Health Services. |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 362 (= S401) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
Passed and included in budget |
| Sponsor(s): |
Insko; Farmer-Butterfield; Adams; Alexander; Bordsen; Faison; Harrison; Luebke; Weiss; Womble; |
|
| Modify School Health Education Program - HB 879 |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 879 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com; will be reintroduced in 2009 |
| Sponsor(s): |
Fisher; Coleman; Jeffus; Goodwin; Alexander; Carney; Dickson; England; Farmer-Butterfield; Glazier; T. Harrell; Harrison; Insko; Martin; Parmon; Ross; Weiss; |
This bill would make honest, realistic sex education part of the core curriculum for North Carolina public schools. School districts would be required to teach age-appropriate, medically accurate health education including both STD and pregnancy prevention.
|
| Modify School Health Education Program -SB 1182 |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 1182 (= H879) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com; will be reintroduced in 2009 |
| Sponsor(s): |
Linda Garrou; Janet Cowell; Katie G. Dorsett; Kay R. Hagan; Eleanor Kinnaird; William R. Purcell; |
This bill would make honest, realistic sex education part of the core curriculum for North Carolina public schools. School districts would be required to teach age-appropriate, medically accurate health education including both STD and pregnancy prevention.
|
| Schools Provide Info on Cervical Cancer. |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 260 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
passed |
| Sponsor(s): |
Katie G. Dorsett; Charles W. Albertson; Doug Berger; Stan Bingham; Julia Boseman; Daniel G. Clodfelter; Janet Cowell; Charlie S. Dannelly; Tony Foriest; Linda Garrou; Malcolm Graham; Kay R. Hagan; Ed Jones; Eleanor Kinnaird; Vernon Malone; Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr.; Jean Preston; William R. Purcell; Joe Sam Queen; Tony Rand; Fred Smith; John Snow; Richard Stevens; Jerry W. Tillman; David F. Weinstein; |
To Ensure that Schools Provide Information Concerning Cervical Cancer, Cervical Dysplasia, Human Papillomavirus, and the Vaccines Available to Prevent These Diseases. – Local boards of education shall ensure that schools provide parents and guardians with information about cervical cancer, cervical dysplasia, human papillomavirus, and the vaccines available to prevent these diseases. This information shall be provided at the beginning of the school year to parents of children entering grades five through 12. This information shall include the causes and symptoms of these diseases, how they are transmitted, how they may be prevented by vaccination, including the benefits and possible side effects of vaccination, and places parents and guardians may obtain additional information and vaccinations for their children.
|
| Special Plate for AIDS Awareness. |
| Bill Number: |
HB 1908 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
Waiting for Gov Signature |
| Sponsor(s): |
Martin; Earle; Harrison; T. Harrell; Bell; Carney; Fisher; Goodwin; Wray; |
|
| |
| Anti-Choice Legislation: |
| 24-Hour Waiting Period |
| Bill Number: |
HB 1552 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
|
| Sponsor(s): |
Johnson; McElraft; Justice; Avila; Blackwood; Blust; Boylan; Brown; Cleveland; Dockham; Dollar; Frye; Gillespie; Gulley; Hilton; Holloway; Holmes; Justus; Lewis; McGee; Moore; Neumann; Pate; Samuelson; Steen; Walker; |
Why 24-HOUR WAITING PERIOD LEGISLATION is Wrong for Women in North Carolina Biased counseling laws are unnecessary and redundant and their actual purpose is to deter women from exercising their lawful right to choose. - This bill would require doctors to provide women with graphic, potentially inaccurate, and inflammatory information about abortion. This bill serves no medical purpose, and is nothing more than an anti-choice attempt to stigmatize abortion, scare women, and deter them from having abortions.
- The bill is unnecessary. Existing informed consent requirements mandated by common law, state laws, and codes of professional ethics, as well as standard medical practices, already ensure that prior to performing any medical procedure, a doctor obtains the patient’s informed consent after advising her of therelevant information.
- This bill impermissibly intrudes into the doctor-patient relationship. NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina believes that a pregnant woman has a fundamental right to receive the complete, non-coercive, medically and factually accurate information necessary to give full and informed consent to medical care, and we trust doctors to provide them with such information. The North Carolina legislature should not dictate language that every doctor must communicate to his or her patients regardless of the individual patient’s circumstances.
State-imposed mandatory delays create substantial obstacles for some women. - This mandatory delay legislation imposes a delay of 24 hours, and the actual delay and added expense involved can be substantial. These laws are particularly burdensome for low-income women, single mothers, young women, women who work, women in abusive relationships, and women who do not have access to cars or public transportation.
- The shortage of physicians trained, qualified, and willing to offer abortion services, especially in rural areas, is acute and forces many women to travel long distances to find a provider. In North Carolina, 78% of the counties do not have abortion providers.
- Moreover, mandatory delays necessitating two trips may require women to take several days off work or school, spend additional money on child care, and incur additional expenses for transportation, food, and lodging.
Ø Many women, particularly low-income women, are not compensated for missed days of work. Thus, laws requiring multiple trips to a clinic and multiple days off of work are particularly problematic. Ø Even if a poor woman has some disposable income to pay for medical expenses, it is very unlikely that she will have money to cover the cost of an abortion as well as the added costs of transportation, meals, lodging, lost wages, and child care. State-imposed mandatory delays can cause dangerous medical delays. - A 24-hour mandatory delay period can mean a forced delay of days or even weeks, compelling a woman to undergo a later abortion that poses increased risks to her health. Many clinics offer abortion services only two or three days a week and have waiting lists for appointments.
|
| Abortion-Parental Consent Notarized. |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 420 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Hilton; Tillis; Killian; Barnhart; Blackwood; Blust; Boylan; Brubaker; Cleveland; Dollar; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; Gulley; Holloway; McElraft; McGee; Moore; Neumann; Pate; Samuelson; Setzer; Steen |
This bill would modify an existing parental-consent law to require either in-person parental consent or notarized written consent – making it more burdensome and dangerous for North Carolina teens. It intrudes on young women’s privacy by requiring them to involve a total stranger in their decision to have an abortion, without any confidentiality or privacy protections in place whatsoever. A notary public is under no obligation at all not to reveal whose signatures they witnessed or what document was signed. A young woman and her parent have absolutely no way to protect their privacy or confidentiality once a notary public witnesses the parent’s signature on the form consenting to an abortion.
|
| Choose Life License Plates/ CPC funding |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 897 (= H932) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
referred to Finance Committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Andrew C. Brock; Austin M. Allran; Harry Brown; James Forrester; W. Edward (Eddie) Goodall; Jim Jacumin; |
This bill would establish “Choose Life” license plates and a “Crisis Pregnancy Fund” in the Department of State Treasurer, which is to be funded by a portion of the Choose Life license plate fees. Money in the Crisis Pregnancy Fund is to be distributed to non-governmental, non-profit agencies “whose services include counseling and meeting the needs of pregnant women within the state who are planning to place their children for adoption.” While the ostensible purpose of this bill may be to promote adoption, it is in reality nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to support crisis pregnancy centers – organizations that often are “fake clinics” that use anti-abortion propaganda, misinformation, and intimidation to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose.
|
| Choose Life Special Registration Plate. |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 932 (= S897) [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
referred to Finance Committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Gillespie; Barnhart; Brown; Cleveland; Dockham; Dollar; Folwell; Frye; Hilton; Moore; Neumann; Starnes; |
This bill would establish “Choose Life” license plates and a “Crisis Pregnancy Fund” in the Department of State Treasurer, which is to be funded by a portion of the Choose Life license plate fees. Money in the Crisis Pregnancy Fund is to be distributed to non-governmental, non-profit agencies “whose services include counseling and meeting the needs of pregnant women within the state who are planning to place their children for adoption.” While the ostensible purpose of this bill may be to promote adoption, it is in reality nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to support crisis pregnancy centers – organizations that often are “fake clinics” that use anti-abortion propaganda, misinformation, and intimidation to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose.
|
| Conscience Protection/Health Care Providers. |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 155 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Hilton; Holloway; Blackwood; Blust; Brown; Cleveland; Folwell; Frye; Gillespie; McGee; Moore; Neumann; Samuelson; Setzer; Stam; Tillis |
This bill will allow medical providers to refuse medical services, including reproductive healthcare, even if there is no other medical professional on the premise who can provide the treatment.
|
| No Abortion Coverage/State Hlth Plan. |
| Bill Number: |
Senate Bill 480 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Andrew C. Brock; Austin M. Allran; James Forrester; W. Edward (Eddie) Goodall; Neal Hunt; Jim Jacumin; Robert Pittenger; Jean Preston; Jerry W. Tillman; |
This bill would restrict state employees’ health insurance from covering abortion care, even in cases when the woman’s health or life is in danger or even if she is a victim of rape or incest.
|
| Notarized Consent for Minor's Abortion. |
| Bill Number: |
S. 481 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Senators Brock; Allran, Forrester, Goodall, Hunt, Jacumin, Pittenger, and Preston |
This bill would modify an existing parental-consent law to require either in-person parental consent or notarized written consent – making it more burdensome and dangerous for North Carolina teens. It intrudes on young women’s privacy by requiring them to involve a total stranger in their decision to have an abortion, without any confidentiality or privacy protections in place whatsoever. A notary public is under no obligation at all not to reveal whose signatures they witnessed or what document was signed. A young woman and her parent have absolutely no way to protect their privacy or confidentiality once a notary public witnesses the parent’s signature on the form consenting to an abortion.
|
| Parental Notification to Treat Minors |
| Bill Number: |
H103 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in committee |
| Sponsor(s): |
Dollar; Cleveland; Folwell; Blackwood; Blust; Brown; Current; Daughtry; Holloway; Holmes; Langdon; McGee; Pate; Samuelson; Wiley |
This bill would drastically reduce the privacy protections of existing law, allowing doctors to notify a parent that a minor has received health care for the “prevention, diagnosis and treatment” of STDs, pregnancy, substance abuse, or emotional disturbance unless such notification would pose a serious risk to the life or physical health of the minor. (This law would continue to have no application to abortion care.) This change in North Carolina law would mean that people under the age of 18 would have almost no medical privacy with respect to contraception, pre-natal care, and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. It penalizes the most responsible young people by not guaranteeing that they may protect their health confidentially, and studies suggest it will actually deter teenagers from seeking out these vital services. . |
| State Health Plan/No Abortion Coverage. |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 419 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com |
| Sponsor(s): |
Hilton; Samuelson; Holloway; Killian; Blackwood; Blust; Cleveland; Current; Frye; Gulley; McGee; Moore; Neumann; Pate; Setzer |
This bill would restrict state employees’ health insurance from covering abortion care, even in cases when the woman’s health is in danger.
|
| Ultrasound before abortion |
| Bill Number: |
H 1782 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com |
| Sponsor(s): |
Hilton; Johnson; Avila; Brown; Cleveland; Current; Gillespie; Moore; Samuelson; |
- Medical decisions ought to be made by a woman and her physician – not by politicians.
- North Carolinians don’t believe the government should interfere in personal private medical decisions.
- House Bill 1782 is out of step with North Carolinians’ values. It is a burdensome measure that requires mandatory, medically unnecessary ultrasounds and unduly interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.
- House Bill 1782 serves no legitimate health care purpose and allows government and politicians to interfere in women’s personal, private medical decisions.
- A woman should have the option of an ultrasound—but the state shouldn’t force her to undergo one.
- Mandatory ultrasounds or sonograms impose unnecessary financial costs to abortion providers and to women.
|
| Unborn Victims of Violence |
| Bill Number: |
House Bill 263 [ view bill ] |
| Status: |
died in Com |
| Sponsor(s): |
Walend; Folwell; Steen; Samuelson; Almond; Avila; Barnhart; Blust; Boylan; Brown; Brubaker; Clary; Cleveland; Coates; Current; Daughtry; Dockham; Dollar; Frye; Gillespie; Grady; Gulley; Hilton; Holloway; Holmes; Howard; Hurley; Johnson; Justice; Justus; Killian; Kiser; Langdon; Lewis; McComas; McElraft; McGee; Moore; Neumann; Pate; Ray; Setzer; Stam; Starnes; Thomas; Tillis; Walker; R. Warren; West; Wiley; |
This bill would provide that a person who commits the crime of murder or manslaughter of a pregnant woman is guilty of a separate offense for the resulting death of the fetus. This bill however, is unnecessary and redundant. NC already has model language that has been used across the nation in it's statute addressing injuries to pregnant women--G.S. 14-18.2. The NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence also opposes House Bill 263.
|
| |
|
|
