The past two weeks have been very intense for both our State House and Senate as pro-life citizens flooded the legislative building in Raleigh lobbying for strong pro-life legislative bills and attending hearings on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act SB359 and HB602.
GREAT NEWS!
Both the North Carolina House and Senate have passed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act along partisan lines this week with four Democrats voting with Republicans.
WE’RE NOT FINISHED!
Now it goes before Gov. Roy Cooper for approval or veto. He has ten days to either veto or sign this bill into law with an April 26 deadline. If he does nothing, it will automatically become law. According to a Charlotte Observer article, “If Cooper does veto the bill, Republicans will need some Democratic lawmakers to side with them to override the veto, since the Republican-led legislature lost its veto-proof supermajority in the 2018 elections.” Gov. Cooper needs to hear from you!
Many pro-life citizens across the state attended both the senate and house hearings in Raleigh along with a few pro-abortion people. Numerous citizens spoke in favor of compassionate care for babies who are born alive by abortion. While you and I cannot imagine anything justifiable for intentionally allowing a helpless baby to die only by a fate worse than surviving a cruel abortion, please note the despicable liberal rhetoric spewed by several Democrats, particularly Sen. Floyd McKissick (D-Durham) and Sen. Terry Van Duyn (D-Buncombe) who is also a candidate for North Carolina Lt. Governor. Sen. McKissick argued that laws against murder and infanticide already exist; yes, there are existing laws against murder, but there are no federal laws against infanticide.” And Sen. Van Duyn stated, “I want all of us to have safe and affordable healthcare rooted in science … and not based on lies concocted by extremist Republicans which is nothing but a political stunt without scientific merit.”
Sen. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg) countered these statements by stating “Current law doesn’t address this because no one has ever contemplated the need to address it before. Because it seemed, under our shared ideals, obvious to all, that if someone were alive, there would be no thought of denying medical care to save their life.”
Sen. Joyce Krawiec (R-Forsyth), a primary sponsor of SB359, passionately responded, “A ‘right to an abortion’ should not translate to a right to a dead child no matter what. These infants are born, and they are live human beings. They are separate from their mother’s body, and they should not be treated as anything other than a live child. They should not be cast aside in a sterile tray or left to die on a metal table.”
Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy (R-Pitt), the only medical doctor serving in the state House, stated, “This bill just speaks to the mere fact that if a child is born alive, they’re alive. Their life is not to be taken, regardless of what was the anticipated desire at the beginning of the delivery. The child is alive.”
Immediate Action Needed
Please call Gov. Cooper at (919) 814-2000 and respectfully ask him to sign SB359, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. If time allows, please follow up your phone call with an email at https://governor.nc.gov/contact/contact-governor-cooper. Be sure to let him know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of North Carolina.
Please pray that the Lord humbles Gov. Cooper, opens his eyes and draws him to Himself and that he would delight in doing the will of God.
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).
In Truth and Righteousness,
Jill Coward
State Director
CWA of North Carolina