House Bill 465 is one step closer to Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk. It has reached the N.C. Senate and is now in committee. This bill, primary sponsors of which are all Republican women, would add a 72 hour waiting period between the initial consultation and the actual abortion procedure.
This bill attempts to reduce abortion by extending wait times, thereby making access to the procedure more inaccessible. A more effective way to reduce abortion rates would be to expand sex education and access to family planning.
The writers of this bill assume that a patient seeking an abortion is doing so on impulse, without forethought. This demonstrates a clear lack of trust in a pregnant person’s ability to make their own medical decisions. Our editorial board has written about this previously, but it’s worth repeating: The increased waiting time particularly harms patients who live in areas of N.C. which are far from any abortion clinic — they will be forced to travel and take time off of work, adding to the financial burden of an already expensive procedure.
The writers of this bill should consider taking decisive action to prevent unplanned pregnancies.
Organizations like NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina and the sponsors of this bill would likely agree that preventing unplanned and unwanted pregnancies is a good thing.
Legislators would better serve the people of North Carolina by supporting legislation which focuses on preventing unplanned pregnancies by creating more comprehensive health education curriculum.
Such a curriculum can and should include information about abstinence. But it should also place an equal level of emphasis on contraception, emergency contraception and strategies for speaking to a partner about safer sex practices.
It’s important to note not every patient who chooses abortion does so because they lacked information about contraception. Some terminations are medically necessary because of the health of the mother or an extreme birth defect in the child. Some are the result of sexual assault.
