North Carolina’s 2nd District Rep. Renee Ellmers has been criticized by anti-abortion groups for working to kill an abortion bill in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in late January — and on Jan. 30, Ellmers wrote an essay in response.
The controversial bill, which would have banned abortions 20 weeks after conception, was pulled from the House's agenda the night before it was supposed to be voted on.
Ellmers, an anti-abortion conservative, did not support the bill because it required women to report the rape to police before the 20 weeks are up.
“While we must continue to provide a voice for the voiceless, we must also show compassion to women when they are in the midst of a crisis, especially victims of rape,” Ellmers wrote in a blog post. “It is my belief that the mandatory police reporting provision relating to rape within the bill would have hindered our ability to do that.”
Her opposition to the bill upset many anti-abortion groups that felt they were not being represented.
“We were upset and angered because we felt that the leadership had caved into Renee Ellmers and the other Republicans, who all of a sudden had some heartburn over this bill that they voted for and supported two years ago,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition.
UNC sophomore Cara Schumann, co-chairwoman of Students United for Reproductive Justice, said she supports the decision to pull the bill.
"I mean, you kind of know that you’re in deep water when your Catholic pro-life coalition is against you,” Schumann said. “I’m glad it was pulled, just because of the principle of the fact that you’re restricting any kind of reproductive rights in the United States."
The issue for some anti-abortion supporters was not just Ellmers’ opposition to the bill, but also the exemption for conceptions resulting from a rape. Joshua Chen, senior and president of Carolina Students for Life, said he believes a fetus deserves protection, regardless of how it was conceived.
