TO THE EDITOR:
In 2012 Gov. Pat McCrory was asked a simple question during an electoral debate: If elected governor, what further abortion restrictions would he sign? And he gave a simple answer — none.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJkGj_SbpbU
Now it seems Gov. McCrory will have to make good on his promise as House Bill 465 leaves the house and makes its way to the Senate. Which, if passed, will enact a 72-hour waiting period to receive abortion procedures in North Carolina, imposing an even greater burden on those who are seeking the routine medical procedure.http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/House/PDF/H465v0.pdf
A 72-hour wait period is without a doubt an abortion restriction. An arbitrary amount of time, it asks women to take three days from their own lives to dedicate to a procedure that can be done safely in one visit.
It asks women to travel from rural communities with no abortion clinics to the urban centers of North Carolina that house some of the few abortion clinics we have left and then stay there for three unnecessary days, waiting to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion.
When you consider hotel and travel fees, this bill is making an already expensive procedure so costly that many people will not be able to afford to have a safe abortion in North Carolina. When people cannot afford safe abortions, history has taught us the dire consequences — which are too often the loss of lives to self performed abortions or botched attempts.
This isn’t aiming to protect North Carolinians, rather it is aiming to punish. It is aiming to deter. It is aiming to make sure a safe and legal procedure is made impossible to receive.
It is wrong. And Gov. McCory has promised to not pass anything that imposes such restrictions for abortion.
I implore him, Students United for Reproductive Justice implores him and those of us who wish to have choice implore him to keep good on his promise and veto House Bill 465, should it end up on his desk.http://carolinasurj.web.unc.edu
