BREAKING: North Carolina Governor To Sign Abortion Restrictions Into Law, Breaking Campaign Pledge

By Sy Mukherjee/Think Progress

Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) on Friday promised to sign into law a series of new restrictions that will limit women’s access to abortion coverage in North Carolina and likely shutter all but one of the state’s abortion clinics. McCrory will sign the bill despite a campaign pledge he made last year saying he would not enact any new abortion legislation as governor.

Under the new law, which legislators approved late Thursday night, health insurance offered in North Carolina’s Obamacare insurance marketplaces would be barred from covering abortion. City and county employees would also lose health insurance benefits that help pay for abortions. Furthermore, the law subjects abortion clinics to building code and facility standards akin to those mandated for surgical centers. Of North Carolina’s 16 clinics, 15 don’t meet those elevated standards, leading advocates to fear the law will leave just one abortion clinic open in the entire state.

The anti-abortion provisions were quietly placed into a bill ostensibly dealing with motorcycle safety in the Tar Heel State. Obstetricians and gynecologists have slammed the proposed regulations as unnecessary and even told North Carolina lawmakers to “get out of our exam rooms.”

McCrory oscillated between supporting the measures and issuing veto threats while the North Carolina legislature made adjustments to the bill. He confirmed his intention to sign the law during a press conference on Friday.

How Kansas’ Anti-Abortion Bill Launches A Sweeping Attack On Women’s Rights

By Tara Culp-Ressler/Think Progress

Not to be outdone by states like North Dakota and Arkansas that have recently passed record-breaking abortion restrictions, Republicans in Kansas are advancing astringent anti-abortion bill that combines several attacks on reproductive rights into one omnibus measure.

HB 2253 is a 70-page piece of legislation that failed last session, when the Senate was more moderate — but since anti-choice state lawmakers won big victories in the 2012 election, Kansas’ abortion opponents are seizing the opportunity to push it through this year. The House approved the bill by a 92-31 vote on Wednesday afternoon, and it’s also expected to pass in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Republican leaders have promised to “consider the bill quickly.” Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has promised to sign any anti-abortion legislation that reaches his desk.If the massive bill were to be enacted into law, here’s how HB 2253 would compromise the reproductive rights of the women living in Kansas:

1. Threatens to outlaw all abortions by redefining life in the state Constitution.HB 2253 includes a personhood clause that would define life as beginning at fertilization in Kansas’ Constitution. Women’s health groups call that a “personhood trigger” because, if the Supreme Court ever left abortion rights completely up to the states, it would ensure that abortion would be totally outlawed in Kansas.

2. Instates costly taxes on abortion services and abortion providers. Several provisions in the bill hope to limit abortion by making it more expensive. Under HB 2253, women who get abortions would not be able to deduct the medical procedure as a health care expense on their taxes. Since Kansas law already prevents women from using their own insurance plans to cover abortion services — requiring them to purchase an additional rider — the extra tax provisions would even further complicate reproductive health care in the state. And according to Planned Parenthood officials, enforcing the abortion deduction ban could end up violating medical privacy laws by allowing state auditors to demand access to individuals’ medical records. The bill would also target groups affiliated with abortion providers by preventing them from receiving the same tax breaks that other organizations do.

3. Requires doctors to give women biased information about the dangers of having an abortion. Under the omnibus bill, doctors would be required to provide women with disputed information about abortion risks. Of course, every patient undergoing a medical procedure should be fully educated about the risks — but these kind of “informed consent” sessions are a popular anti-choice tactic specifically designed to dissuade women from terminating a pregnancy. Doctors would need to tell women about a potential link between abortion and breast cancer, even though medical experts don’t believe there’s a connection between the two.

4. Doesn’t include exceptions for victims of rape or incest. One Kansas lawmaker attempted to amend the bill to include a exception for some of Kansas’ existing abortion laws — including the state’s late-term abortion ban, restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion, and a requirement for minors to get parental consent for abortion services — in cases of rape or incest. Women’s health advocates call such policies “common-sense, compassionate exceptions,” particularly for minors who may have become pregnant from incest and can’t get permission from a family member to terminate the pregnancy. But Republicans in the House voted it down on Tuesday, saying they weren’t interested in revisiting the details of the nearly two dozen abortion restrictions that are already on the books.

5. Restricts the use of comprehensive sex ed resources in public schools. The bill contains a clause that prohibits anyone who works for an abortion provider from also working in a school — a provision intended to specifically target Planned Parenthood and prevent the women’s health organization from providing students with any comprehensive sexual health instruction. Originally, it was so broadly worded that it would have also prevented any parent who works for an abortion provider from volunteering at their child’s school. It’s since been tweaked to specify that volunteering is okay.

Kansas’ omnibus bill is similar to a controversial package of abortion restrictions that Michigan lawmakers forced through their lame duck session at the end of last year. Women’s health advocates warn that HB 2253 represents the “biggest threat this year” to Kansas women’s access to reproductive rights.

Michigan GOP Spokesman: Female Reps Threw ‘Temper Tantrums’ Over Abortion Bill

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

A surge of outrage swept the internet yesterday over two female Michigan legislators who were banned from the floor of the House for saying the word “vagina” in a debate over the worst abortion laws in the country.

Then, in an effort to clarify, a spokesman for the Michigan GOP Leader of the House only made things worse. In a letter to press, he simultaneously did not deny that the women were banned for saying “vagina” and further accused the two of throwing “temper tantrums.”

The letter reads:

Just to be clear, despite the misinformation being spread by Reps. Brown and Byrum, and Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, there are two representatives not being recognized on the House floor today because of their actions yesterday. It has nothing to do with their gender, their religion or the topic they were discussing. All day today, we have had representatives of both parties, both genders and several different religions passionately debating important issues that will significantly impact the future of Michigan.I would urge you not to become too distracted by temper tantrums designed to score political points.

The term ‘temper tantrum’ is not-so-subtly coded sexist language leveled at women to infantilize them and de-legitimize their points. In an attempt at clarification, the spokesman only reaffirmed that the Michigan House GOP’s position was not only against saying the word ‘vagina,’ but also against letting women talk seriously about political issues.

Michigan Legislature To Ram Through Radical Anti-Abortion Measures

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

A bill that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks, regardless of the woman’s or fetus’ health, is being pushed through the Michigan legislature on Thursday. The measure does not include an exception for rape or incest.

A Michigan House panel approved the legislation, HB 5711, as well as twosupplements that restrict abortion access beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy and impose new regulations that could force several abortion clinics in the state to go out of business.

The House has now taken up the measure just a week after it was introduced and it is expected to advance to the state senate.

Several states — including Georgia and Arizona — have recently banned abortion after 20 weeks of gestation. In fact, a Congressman from Michigan recently proposed enacting the ban in Washington, DC.