Anti-abortion advocates are renewing their legislative agenda now that a more conservative legislature is in power.
North Carolina Right to Life, which recently hosted a prayer breakfast at which incoming House Speaker Thom Tillis spoke, is among them. This is in spite of the fact that Tillis, and many other conservative candidates, ran on a platform of fiscal, rather than social issues.
Passing legislation altering or rolling back abortion rights poses a threat to many women in the state, including many fellow UNC students, since the cost of getting an abortion without insurance coverage is steeper.
Even though abortion is legal in the United States, if a woman cannot afford to get an abortion because her insurance plan does not cover it, abortion is as good as illegal.
Many argue that abortion is an avoidable, voluntary procedure, and therefore should not be covered by health insurance.
To address these concerns in our own health plan, former UNC-system president Erskine Bowles added an opt out option to the plan in August, allowing UNC students to choose whether or not they wanted to pay for abortion coverage as part of their plan.
That still wasn’t enough for abortion opponents.
Compromises such as opt outs are not enough for those who are morally opposed to abortion. It appears that we must fight to preserve reproductive rights.
And even if you personally would never consider getting an abortion, it is important to realize the necessity of an affordable option being available for someone else, for whom an abortion may be the best choice.
