Christian Action League
After a long and hard fought battle in the legislature, a veto by the Governor, and afterward a veto override by lawmakers, it appears the fight to provide a woman with critical information about her pregnancy before having an abortion isn’t over.
Thursday, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood of Central Carolina, and various abortionists filed a suit against North Carolina’s recently enacted “Woman’s Right to Know” law. They argue that the law is unconstitutional.
The law, supported by the majority of North Carolinians and more importantly by mothers who have been harmed by the lack of information received prior to having an abortion, would have taken effect beginning next week on October 1, 2011.
The new law is designed to ensure that women seeking an abortion get basic information about the gestational age of the baby, the risks of pregnancy and abortion and whether or not the doctor has malpractice insurance or privileges at the local hospital. It introduces a 24-hour waiting period. It also requires an ultrasound which the woman may choose to view and mandates she be given information about alternatives to abortion.
But according to Reuters, Melissa Reed of Planned Parenthood said that the law’s ultrasound requirements present a “demeaning experience” for women seeking an abortion.
Barbara Holt of North Carolina Right to Life countered, “When a mother’s decision involves the life or death of her unborn child, she needs more, not less information. North Carolina’s “Woman’s Right to Know” law ensures she gets the scientific facts about her unborn child when deciding whether or not to have an abortion. Mothers, not abortionists, should be the ones deciding whether to view the ultrasound image and to hear the heart tone of their unborn children.”
The law actually only requires abortionists to turn the ultrasound image toward the mother, but does not require her to look at the image. The description of the image is supposed to be scientifically accurate and consistent with what the image shows. The abortionist must offer the mother the opportunity to hear the heart tone of her unborn child, but the law does not force her to listen to it.
More than 30,000 abortions are performed annually in North Carolina. The “Woman’s Right to Know” law would save approximately 3000 of those unborn lives each year.
“We heard all these spurious arguments made against this law when it was debated on the House and Senate floors of the legislature” said Dr. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, “It supposedly interferes with the doctor – patient relationship. It shames a woman seeking an abortion. But only the abortion industry – an industry that’s big business, making millions of dollars from abortions, would oppose giving mothers all the facts.”
Creech added that he believes the new law is strong enough to meet constitutional muster.
