Dissecting North Carolina's Alleged Assault on Abortion

If you only listened to the radical protesters, you'd think North Carolina Republicans have taken the fabled "War on Women" to a whole new level by passing sweeping regulations designed to shut down almost every abortion clinic in the state. The truth is: that's a load of crap.

North Carolina House Bill 695 is a whopping 5 pages long. It contains the following 5 provisions:

HB 695 requires abortion clinics to meet the same health standards as other ambulatory (aka outpatient) surgical centers.

Well holy hand-grenade, the audacity of the legislature to suggest a center that's performing surgical procedures should meet the minimum safety standards for surgical centers is unparalleled. This provision also requires the doctor who is performing the procedure to be present as it is performed; shocking, I know.

HB 695 reaffirms the "conscience clause" by stating that no medical professional may be compelled to perform an abortion

I'd like to know how the self-proclaimed advocates of "choice" rationalize that mantra with the assertion that they can deny doctors the choice to determine what elective procedures they will or won't offer.

HB 695 limits taxpayer funding of abortions and prohibits abortion coverage in taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans except in cases where the mother's life is in danger.

It is perfectly within the power of the legislature to determine how it will spend taxpayer dollars. The same group that claims to want government "out of my uterus" also wants government to put "their choice" on the taxpayers' tab.

HB 695 prohibits sex-selection abortions, but does not require the doctor to determine if sex-selection is the reason for the mechanism.

In short, even if you think you should be able to snuff out your daughter because you wanted a boy (or vice versa), the enforcement mechanism of this provision couldn't be much weaker.

Finally, the law requires a 24 hour waiting period.

Even abortion-advocates claim the decision isn't easy. I don't think it's an undue burden to suggest that a pregnant woman not rush headlong to terminate the life of her child without pausing to fully appreciate the decision she's about to make.