NC Senate budget would deny pregnancy prevention funding to providers of abortions
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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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The same day the Republican-led state legislature hopes to override the governor’s veto of an abortion restrictions bill, senators also want to block some funding for family planning that prevents pregnancies.
Sen. Natalie Murdock, a Durham Democrat, called the move “alarming.”
It’s happening through a provision in the Senate’s proposed budget, unveiled Monday. And it comes even as the abortion bill would add funding for contraception.
If the budget and the abortion legislation both become law, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic would not be able to apply for funding contained in the abortion measure for long-acting reversible contraception.
Because of a previous budget, Planned Parenthood does not currently receive state money that the provision would cut off. The new budget would codify the restriction, which otherwise needs to be renewed each year.
The budget says: “No State funds may be used by a State agency to renew or extend existing contracts or enter into new contracts for the provision of family planning services, pregnancy prevention activities, or adolescent parenting programs with any provider that performs abortions.”
It goes on to say: “Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent a State agency from paying any healthcare provider for services authorized under the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees or the Medicaid program.”
The State Health Plan covers abortions only in limited circumstances. Abortion is not covered, “except for when the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or for subscribers and enrolled spouses of the subscribers when the life of the mother would be endangered if the unborn child was carried to term.”
The Senate and House planned to hold override votes on Tuesday evening, hoping to overturn Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 20, which restricts abortion after 12 weeks.
Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, questioned the provision during the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning.
“I’m wondering, especially in light of the abortion bill ban that’s going through this chamber, why we would be including a provision like that in this budget,” Marcus said. “Can anyone explain (what the) thinking is behind refusing to fund family planning services, pregnancy prevention and adolescent parenting programs?”
The only response Marcus received was from budget staff, who summarized the provision in the bill.
Marcus said she still wanted an answer to “the why question.” She did not get one from a lawmaker.
Family planning issues are ‘interconnected’
Murdock, the Durham senator, said the budget item is “not supportive of women’s health.” She told The News & Observer on Tuesday that this change, as well as steering federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to crisis pregnancy centers in the budget, shows that Republicans’ “long-term goal is to completely ban abortion.”
“If you start going after facilities, or even physicians, that you can do this or can’t do that: That doesn’t allow them to do what is medically necessary,” she said. Murdock said that women need access to a spectrum of family planning care.
Preventative measures that allow control of family planning or ensure a healthy pregnancy are all linked, she said.
“These issues are interconnected. Whether you want family planning services, gynecological services — it’s all connected and the same providers,” she said.
Murdock said she planned to speak on the Senate floor later in the day during debate on the override.
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic spokesperson Jillian Riley told The N&O on Tuesday that the provision could prevent people from accessing affordable birth control.
“In North Carolina, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is a leading provider of family planning services, and thousands of North Carolinians rely on Planned Parenthood for this care. This provision has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide quality, affordable family planning care,” Riley said in a statement to The N&O.
“On the contrary, the only reason this provision singles out Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers is because we provide abortion care. Politicians are so bent on preventing a person from having an abortion that they are withholding funds that could help people gain access to affordable birth control and other health services,” she said.
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 11:32 AM.
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