Jason Yoder: Make legislators wait 72 hours to decide

Regarding the April 24 news article “Split House approves longer abortion wait”: I’m in opposition to House Bill 465, legislation that would mandate a 72-hour waiting period before women could obtain an abortion.

Mandatory waiting periods serve no medical purpose and are simply a ruse to decrease the accessibility of abortion. Critically, there is little evidence that mandatory waiting periods change the minds of women seeking abortions.

Instead, as the Guttmacher Institute noted in a study of Mississippi’s mandatory waiting period, these laws overwhelmingly affect poor women by creating financial barriers that prevent them from obtaining the abortions they seek.

Equally disturbing is the way certain members of the North Carolina General Assembly have sought to fast track House Bill 465 in order to avoid any public debate. Perhaps members of the House should have waited 72 hours before voting on such a bill.

If given medically accurate information and adequate time to reflect on this important decision, it is likely that many of them would have changed their minds.

This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Jason Yoder: Make legislators wait 72 hours to decide."