Abortion restrictions race through NC Senate despite pro-abortion rights rally

A sea of pink and purple, men and women, seniors and children lined both sides of Jones Street in Raleigh Wednesday, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

The targets of their protests, mostly Republican senators in the N.C. General Assembly, had just voted in favor of a bill approving sweeping abortion restrictions.

House Bill 695 — originally a Sharia law bill but amended late Tuesday night to include tighter regulations for abortion clinics — was passed by the Senate in a 29-12 vote after more than two hours of debate.

The legislation, now called the Family, Faith and Freedom Protection Act, was a surprise item, added at the last minute to the Senate’s final session agenda before the July 4 holiday. The changes will face final approval in the House next week.

Some of the new regulations would include requiring abortion clinics to adhere to the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers and to have “transfer agreements” with nearby hospitals before accepting an abortion patient. The bill would also prevent sex-selective abortions.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said during floor debate that the bill’s purpose was to address a series of problems plaguing the state’s outpatient clinics.

“This bill deals with the safety of patients and the safety of women,” Berger said. “We are not overturning Roe v. Wade.”

But opponents of the bill say the restrictions would make abortion less accessible, because only one of the state’s 16 clinics — in Asheville — would meet the mandatory conditions.

Members of the state’s chapter of the NAACP, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina hurried to organize a Wednesday morning rally, urging abortion advocates to turn out at the General Assembly and implore senators to vote against the bill.

Sam Spencer, president of Young Democrats of North Carolina and a 2010 Davidson College graduate, was one of more than a hundred people clustered near the gallery in the legislative building, awaiting a verdict. The rafters in the Senate chamber were overflowing with abortion supporters listening to the legislators’ debate.

Spencer said he is appalled that the legislature has acted so quickly on such a far-reaching measure, without giving the public any voice in the process.

Approximately one hundred others armed with abortion-friendly signs and chants rallied outside the building, their numbers and voices swelling quickly. Rain threatened briefly around 9:30 a.m., but the crowd countered with cries of “We are women, we are strong! We will stand here all day long!”

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange) gave the protestors a thumbs up from a Senate chamber window before the session began.

Allison Roe, a Raleigh resident, held up a sign telling Gov. Pat McCrory to “Stay outta m’crotchy” and said she only heard about the bill while watching the Rachel Maddow show at 9 p.m. Tuesday on MSNBC.

“What they did last night was ridiculous,” Roe said.

James Miller, of the Outer Banks, paraded his own poster asserting that “It’s a vagina, not an AK-47. You want to ban one?” and said he is troubled that gun control legislation has taken a backseat to further oppressive measures.

“They’d rather legislate a vagina than a gun, and I think that’s absolutely horrible,” he said.

The legislation is little more than an effort to restrict access to abortion in the state, particularly for poor women, said Susan Eder, a physician from Raleigh.

“It’s the poor that this will hurt — as all these bills are,” Eder said.

“There are many medical procedures that are performed that are more risky than abortion and have less restrictive laws about when and where they’re being done.”

Even McCrory voiced concern Wednesday over the senators’ late-night meeting and rapid passing of the bill, saying Republicans are acting too quickly on controversial legislation that deserves more debate.

“When the Democrats were in power, this is the way they did business,” he said in a statement. “It was not right then and it is not right now.

“Regardless of what party is in charge or what important issue is being discussed, the process must be appropriate and thorough.”

If the bill clears a final hurdle in the House next week, it will land on McCrory’s desk. Questions surrounding McCrory’s stance on the bill remain, given that he promised during his gubernatorial campaign not to sign any new abortion restrictions into law.