As NC Republicans debate abortion proposals, activists push for a ban after six weeks
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Abortion in North Carolina
Republicans in the North Carolina state legislature passed a law that implements new abortion restrictions. What does that mean for access to abortion? Read coverage on the issue from The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer.
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Anti-abortion advocates filled the halls of the General Assembly on Tuesday, urging Republicans to pass a so-called heartbeat bill that would ban abortion after six weeks, which they said was necessary to protect the unborn.
Groups of abortion opponents from around the state, some of them families and others members of the same church congregations, spread out throughout the legislative campus to meet with GOP lawmakers and their staffs, and call on them to support a six-week ban, one of multiple Republican proposals for new legislation.
GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been working for several weeks on a consensus abortion bill that the party can unite around.
House Speaker Tim Moore, who personally supports a heartbeat bill, but wants to pass something that can be enacted over an expected veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, said during a meeting with pastors that House Republicans planned to meet privately on potential legislation later Tuesday.
“We have to get a supermajority to get something done,” Moore said. “Now, what that ends up being, what that bill ends up looking like, I can’t say today what in fact that will be.”
Republicans in the Senate are still having discussions, Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters Tuesday evening. Berger said he’s confident they’ll be able to reach a consensus on a bill in the Senate, but when that happens remains uncertain.
“I’m just not at a place where I can offer a whole lot of guidance as to what the timeline looks like,” Berger said.
Tami Fitzgerald, the executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, which helped organize the two-day advocacy campaign in support of a six-week proposal, said she believed Tuesday’s effort had been a success, and said she hoped it would help convince any lawmakers who have been “on the fence” about a heartbeat bill.
“This is a very reasonable bill, and we’ll continue to push for that with legislators,” Fitzgerald said. “I think you will see a continued push from people around the state, from voters who have voted for people who have campaigned as being pro-life. They’re going to hold those people accountable for how they campaigned.”
Democrat addresses anti-abortion pastors
Several Republican lawmakers addressed the pastors who came to the legislature to advocate for a ban on abortion after six weeks of gestation. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Jeff McNeely of Iredell County, said he believed Republicans would be making a mistake if they ultimately proposed a less restrictive bill that would ban abortion later in pregnancy.
“We have a lot in our caucus that are afraid that we’re going to not be in the majority if we do this,” McNeely said. “Of course, my fear is that we’re not going to be in the majority if we don’t do this.”
But it wasn’t just Republicans who spoke to the pastors. Rep. Garland Pierce, a Scotland County Democrat who has served as a pastor for 42 years, also addressed the group.
Pierce, who has voted with Republicans on certain abortion bills in the past, didn’t talk about any specific bills being considered now, or whether he’d support new restrictions on abortion, but spoke generally about his approach to legislation and his experience as a pastor.
“Whatever you believe in, stay the course,” Pierce said.
Moore, who has previously said there are some House Democrats who have indicated they may be willing to vote for a potential GOP abortion bill, depending on what it looks like, said he was glad Pierce spoke to the pastors, but didn’t think Pierce’s decision to address the group should be interpreted as support for a bill.
“I think that it shows that this is not a partisan issue, and folks are allowed to their own conscience, they want to speak for their conscience,” Moore said.
Supporters of heartbeat bill meet with lawmakers
Advocating for the six-week ban, a group of families who met with GOP Rep. Neal Jackson of Randolph County told him that lawmakers should support the heartbeat bill over a 12-week or 13-week ban, because it’s tied to the moment when fetal cardiac activity is usually first detected, and not an “arbitrary” point in time.
“I think that it was very helpful to see so many parents concerned about this issue, so many children walking the halls, encouraging people to choose life,” Jackson, a pastor who is serving his first term in the House, told The N&O after the meeting.
The families also brought up adoption and foster care. Jackson pointed to a photo of his family hanging on the wall and said that he and his wife had adopted two of their children, twin boys, through the foster care system. Jackson also talked about a Siler City children’s home for kids in foster care that he and his wife helped launch a few years ago.
Jackson said their goal is to have 100 families in the region become foster parents.
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This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 3:53 PM.
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