Annual Pro-Life Events-January 14, 2012-Raleigh, NC

North Carolina Right to Life, Inc.

13th Annual Prayer Breakfast for Life

January 14, 2012

North Raleigh Hilton

3415 Wake Forest Road Raleigh, NC

(Breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m. - Program 10:00 a.m.)

The cost for the breakfast is $25/person, $40/married couple, $20/students, clergy, and seniors. Payment can be made using MC/VISA/DISCOVER/Check. Call 800-392-6275 to register by phone using MC, VISA or Discover. Mail checks to NCRTL, PO Box 9282, Greensboro, N. C. 27429-0282. After January 11, 2011, the price WILL go up $5. Sponsorships are available.  (Click here for the form.)

&

2012 Annual Rally and March for Life

begins at 1:00 pm

Nash Square

(corner of Hargett and McDowell Streets, Raleigh, NC)

Join other pro-lifers to stand up for life and to display proudly your

church or school banner in support of life. The Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh, will give remarks and the Invocation. Christina Geradts, a student at UNC-CH and a graduate of the NRL Academy, and Teresa Pincus, a student at NCSU, will speak.

                                                                                                                                                                       

Randall K. O’ Bannon, Ph. D., the Director of Education and Research at National Right to Life will be the featured speaker at the Prayer Breakfast. Dr. O’ Bannon is an expert on the funding and activities of Planned Parenthood, having tracked the organization for over 20 years. Additionally, Dr. O’ Bannon has written dozens of stories and blog entries and produced numerous fact sheets about Planned Parenthood to highlight its being the country’s largest abortion provider, aborting 332,278 babies in 2009. He is also an expert on the chemical abortion RU-486. In addition to having been interviewed by the national press.  Dr. O’ Bannon has worked on such notable projects as the award winning video, Infinite Possibilities.

Carol Tobias, the featured speaker at the Rally, became the 9th president of the National Right to Life Committee in April 2011.  A native of North Dakota, she has served on the National Right to Life board of directors since 1987.  From 1983 to 1991, she was executive director of North Dakota Right to Life and in 1991 was hired as National Right to Life Political Director, a position she held until 2005.  During her tenure as political director, pro-life majorities were elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.  In both 2000 and 2004, she oversaw the efforts of National Right to Life’s political action committee on behalf of George W. Bush.

She has appeared on ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC’s Today Show, CNN, The News Hour on PBS, C-SPAN, and Fox News Channel, as well as numerous television and radio programs throughout the country.  She has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today.

For More Information, call: NCRTL at 1-800-392-6275

Judge Enjoins Ultrasound Portion of NC Woman's Right to Know Law

DISTRICT JUDGE ENJOINS ULTRASOUND REQUIREMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA

Other life-saving provisions of Woman's Right to Know law take effect tomorrow.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued a ruling enjoining the "Right to View" provision of North Carolina's "Woman's Right to Know" law from taking effect. The remaining provisions of the law will take effect tomorrow. The law was enacted in July over Governor Beverly Perdue's veto and requires that mothers seeking abortion be given information about the abortion and that a real-time ultrasound image of her unborn child be displayed so that she may view the image before the abortion can be performed.

“While we are happy that most of the provisions of the Woman's Right to Know law will go into effect tomorrow, it is extremely regrettable that mothers will be unable to see real-time images of their unborn children kicking and moving inside the womb and hear their children's heartbeat," said Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life.

Enacted by a bi-partisan override of Governor Perdue's July veto, the informed consent law provides that a booklet containing scientifically accurate information about risks, alternatives and information on the development of the unborn child, compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services, be offered to the mother at least 24 hours prior to an abortion so that she might have the opportunity to read and understand the information. The provision enjoined by Judge Eagles requires that an ultrasound image of the unborn child be displayed at least four hours prior to an abortion so that the mother might view it and that she be given the opportunity to hear the unborn child's heartbeat.

"There are numerous precedents which impact other aspects of people's lives where laws require information be provided, and in many cases displayed and orally described," noted Mary Spaulding Balch, J.D., director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee. "Displaying the ultrasound image, and orally describing what the screen depicts, gives mothers another piece they need to make a more informed decision and reduce the chance that she will make a decision based on an incomplete understanding of the full dimensions of her decision, which might later produce terrible remorse."

"We are confident that the Court, upon further review, will ultimately allow the ultrasound provision to take effect giving North Carolina mothers the opportunity to witness their living unborn children in the womb," Mrs. Holt added.

(Source: Joint Press Release by National Right to Life and its state affiliate, North Carolina Right to Life Inc.)

NC Right to Life Fair Booth at NC State Fair Draws Positive Comments

Each October, North Carolina Right to Life (NCRTL) proudly sets up its exhibit at the NC State Fair in the Education Building. Over 100 pro-lifers volunteer their time and talent to man a shift (sometimes several) at the NCRTL booth.  Not only is the booth a blessing to those who visit it but to the volunteers too.  

Yesterday, one of the volunteers told us how touched she was by the man who stopped by to offer a pro-life poem and by another woman who came by to share her regret for the 2 abortions that she had.  This post abortive mother said that there was not one day that went by that she does not regret her decision to abort her children.  According to this volunteer, the majority of comments have been positive, with only about 1/2% negative; those folks make their comments and then leave. This volunteer thanked NC Right to Life for the opportunity to work the booth.

Thousands of fair goers stop by our booth to sign our petition, view the award winning video about life, make donations for bumper sitckers, magnets, precious feet pins, etc. and get information about abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia/assisted suicide.  Each person who visits the booth receives a sticker which says, "Thanks Mom for Life."  Many are returning visitors to the booth, who are looking for a new petition to sign and new materials to pick up.

If you have not yet made your trip to the NC State Fair, it is not too late.  The fair closes on Sunday, October 23.  Senior Citizens get into the fair free of charge. Be sure to stop by our booth in the Education Building (located at the corner of Blue Ridge and Hillsborough Street by the electronic fair sign) to sign our petition and check out all the pro-life materials.

The Abortion Industry Wants to Deny Mothers Considering Abortion the Facts They Need to Make a Truly Informed Decision

On September 29, 2011, 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. 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 on October 1, 2011.

“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," stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life. "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 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 does not force her to listen to it.  Only the abortion industry would oppose giving mothers all the facts to make this life and death decision for their unborn children.

Republican Controlled General Assembly Concludes Historic Legislative Session

In an historic legislative session, the Republican controlled State House and Senate passed a record number of pro-life laws:

• 
  The Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law, H215, mirrors the federal law so that the unborn child is recognized a second victim when a crime is committed.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H215&submitButton=Go

•                                                                              The Authorize Various Special Plates, H289, includes the Choose Life Plate. The bill requires that the words North Carolina which appear at the bottom of the plate and the background for the numbers will have to be reflective white. The new law requires that in 2015, the full color plate becomes a "First in Flight" plate with a logo to the left representing the special plate. Of course, prior to 2015, the legislature can amend the law to allow the full color plates to continue.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H289&submitButton=Go

• Using the budget as its vehicle, the legislature repealed the Abortion Fund which had been amended in 1995 limiting abortion coverage to $50,000 for the reasons of life of the mother, rape, and incest.  Since the funds have not been used since 1995, the legislature eliminated the provision entirely. Secondly, the legislature included a provision in the budget that states: "No state funds may be used for the performance of abortions or to support the administration of any governmental health plan or government-offered insurance policy offering abortion, except that this prohibition shall not apply where (i) the life of the mother would be endangered if the unborn child were carried to term or (ii) the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit medical care provided after a spontaneous miscarriage."  Finally, the legislature included a provision in the budget that de-funds Planned Parenthood.  Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit against the state to restore these funds. (See the news story about the suit which includes a quote by Barbara Holt:click here.) The Budget was vetoed by the Governor but overridden by the legislature with 5 House Democrats joining Republicans in the House and Senate voting for the override. The 5 House Democrats are Reps. William Brisson, Jim Crawford, Dewey Hill, Bill Owens, and Tim Spear.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H200&submitButton=Go

• The Abortion-Woman's Right to Know Act, H854, is the most recently passed law; it was the top priority for North Carolina Right to Life.  The Abortion-Woman's Right to Know Act, H854, passed the NC House June 8, 71-48, and the NC Senate on June 15, by a vote of 29-20, one vote short of the necessary votes to override the expected Governor's veto.  On June 27, Governor Beverly Perdue vetoed the bill. (Click here for WRAL article on the veto; click here for another article with audio of Ruth Samuelson on the veto.) Following Perdue's veto and during the special session on redistricting, both the chambers took up the veto override. On July 26, the NC House overrode the Governor's veto, 72-47, with all Republicans and 4 Democrats voting for the bill, Reps. William Brisson, Jim Crawford, Dewey Hill, and Tim Spear.  Two days later on July 28, the NC Senate voted in favor of the bill, 29-19, with Republican Senators Stan Bingham and Richard Stevens absent.  (Senator Stan Bingham explains not voting on the override of Governor's veto of the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know.) The bill became law by the exact number of votes needed to override the Governor's veto of the bill.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=H200&submitButton=Go

ACTION NEEDED:

Please thank your representative and senator if he or she voted for anyone of these bills.  They need to be acknowledged for their support.  We especially want you to thank them for supporting the Woman's Right to Know. 

Also, put in your application to get a Choose Life Special Plate for your car and help support the agencies that help mothers who are choosing life for their unborn children. To get an application for the plate, click here.

State Senate Joins House in Overriding 

Governor's Veto of the

Abortion-Woman's Right to Know

Greensboro,NC- Today, North Carolina Right to Life, the state's largest and oldest right-to-life organization applauded the members of the North Carolina Senate for overriding Governor Beverly Perdue's veto of the Woman's Right to Know Act, H854, by a vote of 29-19. On July 25, the North Carolina House overrode the the Governor's veto, 72-47. Governor Perdue vetoed the legislation on June 27.

North Carolina becomes the 26th state to have a Woman's Right to Know law consistent with the findings in the U. S. Supreme Court decision of 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

"At long last, North Carolina has taken the necessary steps to ensure that mothers receive the factual, non judgmental, and scientifically accurate information they need to make an informed decision about a procedure that means life or death for their unborn children." stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life. "Many unborn children's lives will be saved and their mothers will be spared much heartache when the law takes effect later this year."

North Carolina will join the other southern states that have this legislation. Both the Senate and House can be proud of their votes to override the Governor's veto.  They represented the people of the state who support the legislation.  The Civitas Institute recently reported the results of a poll about the bill, showing that 56% of the voters of the state support the bill while only 36% oppose it.

North Carolina Right to Life, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, is the oldest and largest single issue organization in the state serving all of North Carolina.

State House Overrides Governor's Veto, 72-47

Greensboro,NC- Today, North Carolina Right to Life, the state's largest and oldest right-to-life organization applauded members of the North Carolina House of Representatives for overriding Governor Beverly Perdue's veto of the Woman's Right to Know Act, H854. The House voted, 72-47, to override the Governor's veto; the Senate is expected to take up their veto override soon. Governor Perdue vetoed the legislation on June 27.

This historic vote puts NC one step closer to being the 26th state to have a Woman's Right to Know law consistent with the findings in the U. S. Supreme Court decision of 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

"This vote was a bipartisan vote to ensure that mothers receive the factual, non judgmental and complete information they need to make informed abortion decision affecting their unborn children," stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life. "Many unborn children's lives will be saved and their mothers will be spared much heartache when the legislature completes its work of overriding the Governor's veto."

The House listened to the voices of the majority of the people of the state who support the legislation.  The Civitas Institute recently reported the results of a poll about the bill, showing that 56% of the voters of the state support the bill while only 36% oppose it.

North Carolina Right to Life, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, is the oldest and largest single issue organization in the state serving all of North Carolina.

Q & A with Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D. about Planned Parenthood

Ignore Misleading Figures, Planned Parenthood Is “Big Abortion”

NRL NEWS Editor’s note. Whenever questioned about the hundreds of millions the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) receives every year in government funding, PPFA ducks, bobs, and weaves. At the top of its evasions is a multi-fold defense that attempts to demonstrate that abortion is a small part of what it does, bringing in barely enough to pay the utilities. Is this plausible? To those who don’t have the opportunity to closely follow the money and statistical trails, yes. But are they true? No! Contrary to the official PPFA line, its abortion connection has, if anything, been underplayed. For an explanation we turn to Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D., National Right to Life’s resident expert on Planned Parenthood. Dr. O’Bannon has tracked the activities of PPFA and its affiliates for us for over 20 years and has written dozens and dozens of stories and blog entries about the country’s largest abortion provider, which aborted 332,278 babies in 2009.

NRL News: Let’s start with this claim that abortion represents “only 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services,” the single most common PPFA defense. Where does this come from and is it in any sense true?

Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D.: If you were PPFA, above all you want people’s eyes distracted from the 330,000+ abortions you perform a year. How could you minimize its prevalence and its importance to your bottom line? (This is complicated, so please bear with me.)

By bundling services when it serves your purpose, and unbundling when it makes you look better. It arrives at this 3% figure by using some very strained mathematics, by counting everything given to, or done for, a given patient as a separate service. So if a young mom comes into a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion, she’ll probably also have a pregnancy test, maybe a test for an STD, and then may receive a packet of birth control pills after her abortion. So, is that one “service” or four? Planned Parenthood counts each of these as a separate service.

Moreover, this same woman coming in for an abortion may receive three, four, or more additional services, such as an ultrasound, an antibiotic, and an Rh type and hemoglobin test, all connected to her abortion visit. When counted separately, it makes it look like abortion was only one among several other more conventional “reproductive health care” services or procedures. [See PPFA’s 3/11 fact sheet on services at www.plannedparenthood.org/file/PPFA/PP_Services.pdf.]

PPFA offers the “3% of services” mantra day in and day out. It is accepted uncritically by the media. The figure is purposefully confusing. A much more understandable—and accurate—measure is to look at the numbers of clients, rather than the number of “services.” That tells a very different story.

Outside of places like National Right to Life News and NRL News Today, you virtually never read that the percentage of PPFA’s clients that receive abortions is 12%. As we shall see in a moment, that is important not only because it reveals its enormous investment in abortion, but also because abortions generate a hefty share of clinic revenue.

NRL News: So, to be clear, that means that nearly one in eight women walking through the door of a Planned Parenthood clinic receiving services has an abortion?

O’Bannon: Well, even that probably understates the abortion-related traffic to Planned Parenthood. In 2009 over 1.1 million women coming to Planned Parenthood had a pregnancy test. We don’t know what percentage of those were positive. What we do know is that of the services Planned Parenthood reported that would have involved pregnant women (abortion, prenatal care, adoption referrals), 97.6% were abortion.

On the PPFA Services fact sheet, Planned Parenthood says it provided services for three million people in 2009. That would mean roughly a third were tested for pregnancy. Considering how a woman can buy a relatively inexpensive pregnancy test from her local drug or grocery store, she must have had a reason to seek out Planned Parenthood. If the availability of abortion was the reason, that would mean that abortion was pulling in even more than the 12%.

NRL News: Even so, 12% of the business being devoted to abortion would be a significant percentage, would it not?

O’Bannon: That it would be. But to reiterate, abortion certainly accounts for a great deal more than just 12% as a portion of PPFA’s business, especially if you’re looking at it in monetary terms.

To see how significant abortion is to Planned Parenthood’s bottom line, there is no equivalency between a $15 pregnancy test or a $6 pack of condoms or $15–$50 packet of birth control pills and an abortion which runs $350–$950 for a first-trimester abortion [seewww.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/abortion/in-clinic-abortion-procedures-4359.asp].

Here’s some very basic math. At $451 (the Guttmacher Institute’s estimated average cost for a standard first-trimester surgical abortion), the 332,278 abortions Planned Parenthood performed in 2009 would represent $149.9 million—37% of the $404.9 million in clinic revenues PPFA took in for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009 [see PPFA 2008–09 Annual Report atwww.plannedparenthood.org].

NRL News: That’s a far cry from the 3% we started with.

O’Bannon: And since Planned Parenthood clinics also advertise and perform more expensive chemical abortions, like those with RU486, and later surgical abortions, which average more than $1,500 at 20 weeks, that income and that percentage are probably much higher. One thing is clear from the data we have, data that comes from Planned Parenthood itself. In spite of the spin and the deflections, Planned Parenthood certainly is “Big Abortion”-- the nation’s biggest performer and most aggressive promoter of abortion.

NRL News: We know we have to be 100% accurate or the 99% that is correct gets tossed away. What are some common mistakes with regard to the data?

O’Bannon: Speaking in terms of Planned Parenthood’s “profits” instead of “revenues.” Another is to confuse its clinic or “health center income” with the total revenues of the organization. Planned Parenthood had total revenues of $1.1 billion in FY 2009, but only 37% of that came from clinic income. It got another $363.3 million in “government grants and contracts” and private contributions totaling $308.2 million, and another $24.5 million from other sources.

One thing people also need to do is to be specific. Don’t say that 90% of Planned Parenthood’s patients have abortions, because that isn’t correct. What is true is that in looking at those services intrinsically connected to pregnancy—abortion, prenatal care, and adoption—97.6% of those were abortion.

NRL News: Anything else you want to say about this 3% claim that Planned Parenthood has popularized?

O’Bannon: If I may, let me briefly mention three other related issues. First, PPFA is building up its abortion business in a major way (see the editorial on page 2). This is 180 degrees away from the organization’s attempt to act as if abortion is incidental to what it does.

Second—to borrow from the article I wrote that appears on page z—a secondary Planned Parenthood tactic is to argue that increased funding will enable it to reduce the numbers of abortions, but its own organizational reports don’t seem to show that.

The revenue Planned Parenthood receives in “Government Grants & Contracts” has gone from $165 million in 1998 to $363.3 million in the organization’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. During the same time, and at roughly the same rate, abortions have more than doubled at Planned Parenthood, from 165,509 in 1998 to 332,278 in 2009. All this while abortions in the U.S., as a whole, dropped by about 25%. To say that Planned Parenthood is committed to reducing abortions is to go against decades of evidence that shows the exact opposite.

Third, to return to the original question, we’ve shown that PPFA is heavily invested in—and derives enormous income from—abortion.

But even if abortion constituted “only” 3% of its business—which masks the truth—this organization boldly and unapologetically destroys over 300,000 innocent human lives every year, making millions in the process, and unapologetically defends its doing so.

This is not only an absolute corruption of the very notion of “health care,” it is a gross abuse of our most basic human rights, something that no civilized society should tolerate, much less pay for.
 

[SOURCE: NRL News, Page 10, April/May 2011, Volume 38, Issue 4-5]

Shame on you, Governor Perdue, for Vetoing the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know Act

North Carolina Right to Life Expresses Strong Disapproval at Governor Perdue’s Veto of Woman’s Right to Know Bill

Greensboro, NC – (June 27, 2011) North Carolina Right to Life, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), expresses strong disapproval at Governor Perdue’s veto of H854, the Abortion - Woman’s Right to Know bill, which would have ensured that women seeking abortions are given non-judgmental, scientifically accurate information about their developing unborn child prior to obtaining an abortion.

“I would like to express publically my disappointment that Governor Purdue has chosen to override the express will of the people and their elected representatives by vetoing this bill,” stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life. “While our elected representatives courageously voted to give women real choice and their unborn babies a chance at life, Governor Purdue has cowardly catered to the powerful pro-abortion lobby in vetoing this bill. It is an unspeakable tragedy that thousands of innocent young lives will be lost and women’s lives irreversibly shattered simply because they never had the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their unborn baby or be given scientifically accurate information about him or her,” she added.

The bill passed the NC House by 71 to 48 and 29 to 20 in the NC Senate. North Carolina would have joined twenty – five (25) other states with similar informed consent laws for abortion. The law would have required that every mother be given an opportunity to view an ultrasound of her unborn child prior to an abortion. It also would have required the state to create a website where mothers can learn mre about the development of their unborn children, alternatives to abortion, and a list of places where they can obtain a free ultrasound.

North Carolina Right to Life is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nation’s largest single issue pro-life group. North Carolina Right to Life works through education and legislation to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide.

LINKS to news stories about Perdue's veto:
News and Observer
News Story on ABC Local
LifeNews

Session Ends with Passage of Pro-Life Bills

The North Carolina House adjourned on Saturday, June 18, after passing Rep. Mitch Gillespie's "Choose Life" License Plate bill H289, "Authorize Various Plates."  This bill was the last of the several pro-life bills supported by North Carolina Right to Life to get through the legislature in the waning days before adjournment.

The "Choose Life" plate was attacked by amendments offered by both House and Senate Democrats who wanted to keep the plate from being offered by the NCDMV.  Democrats in both chambers offered an amendment to include a "Trust Women..Respect Choice" plate in Rep. Gillespie's bill with the proceeds from the sale of the plate going to Planned Parenthood.  These amendments in addition to other gutting amendments offered by the Democrats failed.

There was one amendment in Senate Finance that almost derailed the the bill because it would have prohibited full color license plates. While the amendment did pass the Finance Committee and the bill passed the Senate 41-9, the House voted 108-0 not to concur.  The negotiations that followed between Rep.Mitch Gillespie (R-McDowell) and Senator Bob Rucho (R-Mechlenburg), brought a compromise that allows the Choose Life plate to have its special full color plate design until 2015.  The compromise passed the Senate 29-11 at 12:56 AM on June 18 before the Senate adjourned, and then passed the House 68-44 at 11:42 AM just before it adjourned.

The bill also provides for a study committee:

"The Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the Department of Transportation shall study whether, for purposes of effective law enforcement, full-color special license plates should continue to be authorized or be phased out, with all special license plates being on the First in Flight background.  The study shall also include an estimate of the replacement costs and recommendations for funding those costs. 


The Departments shall report their findings and make recommendations to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee on or before the convening of the 2012 Regular Session of the 2011 General Assembly.  The Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee shall make any legislative recommendations based on the study to the 2012 Regular Session of the 2011 General Assembly."

Based on the recommendations of the study committee, the phase out of the full color plates could be repealed, allowing the plates to remain full color for those which qualify by statute.

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday, June 15, the Senate Rules Committee passed the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know Act along party lines, allowing the bill to go straight to the Senate floor on the supplemental calendar for that day.  Just as in the House, Democrat legislators spoke against the bill. All Democrats and one of the Republicans, Senator Stan Bingham (Davidson), voted against the bill. Senator Richard Stevens (R-Wake) did not vote.

The bill passed its second reading (29-20) and third reading on a voice vote without a single amendment being offered. It was ratified on June 16; then, presented to the Governor on June 17.  Governor Beverly Perdue has 10 days to either sign or veto the bill.  If she does neither, the bill will become law automatically after 10 days.

ACTION REQUIRED:

Call Governor Perdue at 1-919-733-4240 to ask her to allow the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know to become law. 


When the person answers the phone, say that the voice mail is full and you would like to leave a message. 


Then say, "I strongly support the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know H854 and ask the Governor to allow the bill to become law." 


Be sure to give your name. Pass the word to all your pro-life family and friends.




RESOURCES:


H854 Abortion Woman's Right to Know


H289 Authorize Various Plates

NC House Committees Hear Testimony on the Abortion Woman's Right to Know.

The NC House Judiciary B Committee heard testimony Thursday, May 4, on the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know (A-WRTK), H854.  Reps. Ruth Samuelson and Pat McElraft, the bill's primary sponsors, spoke first.  Because of the need to be in another committee meeting, Rep. McElraft spoke briefly at the beginning.  Then, Rep. Samuelson thoroughly explained the bill prior the testimony of those who support and oppose the legislation. The committee Chair, Rep. Stevens, alternated the testimony between those who oppose the bill with those who support the bill.


Those speaking against the bill were Janet Colm, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina; Sarah Preston, lobbyist for the ACLU; David Grimes, a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine; and Erica Pedigrew, a fifth year medical student at UNC-CH.

Speaking in support of the bill were: Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life; Monsignor David Brockman, Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh; Sara Riggins, representing NC Family Policy Council; Rev. Mark Creech, Executive Director of the Christian Action League; Danelle Hallenbeck, post abortive mother and former Leader of Operation Outcry in NC; and Betty Rogosich, CEO of Birth Choice serving Eastern NC.

To watch the WRAL video of the proceedings, click here.  Before the discussion of the A-WRTK, there were about 40 minutes of discussion on two different bill.  Move the bar to advance to the A-WRTK discussion unless you wish to hear everything discussed in the meeting.


The House Judiciary Sub Committee B met for a second time on May 11, with the entire two hour meeting devoted to the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know bill.  The first hour was devoted to hearing testimony from both sides with each side having 25 minutes.  The last hour of the meeting was devoted to discussion of the bill by the committee with a vote on the bill as the final action.  For the most part, those members of the committee who opposed or supported the bill made statements about the bill.  The bill passed the committee along party lines with Rep. Grier Martin not casting a vote because he was called away to another committee at which one of his bills was being considered.


You can watch the video of the meeting here.


The bill was assigned to Appropriations Sub Committee on Health and Human Services which heard the bill on May 19.  There were no amendments offered and the bill passed the committee after legislators spoke both in favor and opposition to the bill.

To read Barbara Holt's prepared remarks from May 4, which had to be limited due to time constraints because of the large number of individuals giving testimony, click here.

To read other posts about the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know, H854, click here.

RESOURCES:

Death Associated with Abortion Compared to Childbirth

Deaths Associated with Pregnancy Outcome
Abortion is Four Times Deadlier than Childbirth

Barbara Holt's Prepared Testimony at May 4 House Judiciary B Subcommittee in Favor of the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know

Thank you Reps. Stam and Stevens and members of the committee for this opportunity to speak to you about why you should support the Abortion-Woman’s Right to Know. 

This legislation does not prevent a woman from having an abortion, but rather ensures that she receives all the information she needs for making an informed decision. Members of this committee who consider themselves pro-choice should support the legislation for that reason alone. 

On the other hand, speaking for North Carolina Right to Life and the many hundreds of thousands of pro-life citizens of this state, we support the bill because most women are seeking the information provided by this legislation in order to choose to bring their babies into the world rather than to abort them.  They are looking for a reason not to have an abortion.  This legislation ensures that they will receive the information they desire so they can make a life affirming decision for themselves and their children.

In his research findings, David Reardon, Ph. D., states, “approximately 40 percent of post-aborted women were still hoping to discover some alternative to abortion when going for counseling at the abortion clinic; over 80 percent say they would have carried to term under better circumstances or with the support of loved ones; between 30 and 60 percent of women having abortions have a positive desire to carry the pregnancy to term and keep their babies; approximately 70 percent of women seeking abortions have a negative moral view of abortion and are choosing against their consciences because of outside pressures; over two-thirds of women seeking abortions feel they have "no choice" or are "forced" to have the abortion by others or circumstances” [Source: Zimmerman, Passage Through Abortion (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977) 69, 110-12, 120, 193; Reardon Aborted Women - Silent No More (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1987, 9-15, 41-64.)] 

He further states, “Indeed, it is quite possible that the majority of women seeking abortions, if given a free and informed opportunity, would decide that childbirth is clearly healthier than abortion.” 

[Source: http://www.afterabortion.org/PAR/V2/n2/

INCONSNT.htm]

As of July 2010, according to National Right to Life, there are 25 states which have similar Casey style Women’s Right to Know statutes, that provide printed information for making an abortion decision. 24 of the 25 are currently in effect. Montana is the only state whose statute has been permanently enjoined.  Wisconsin and Alabama have laws which are deficient because of the weakness of their medical emergency language. North Carolina and Tennessee are the only two southern states without a Woman’s Right to Know law.

In the 1992 U. S. Supreme Court decision of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court upheld Pennsylvania’s Informed Consent law.  The court stated: “It cannot be questioned that psychological well-being is a facet of health. Nor can it be doubted that most women considering an abortion would deem the impact on the fetus relevant, if not dispositive, to the decision.... [This information] furthers the legitimate purpose of reducing the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.”

This informed consent bill poses the fundamental question: When a pregnant woman is faced with a life and death decision, can the state require her doctor to display an ultrasound image? As stated earlier, abortion jurisprudence dealing with informed consent legislation is currently controlled by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992). Applying the holding in that case to the ultrasound provision in the bill we are discussing today, the answer is that the state can require the ultrasound to be displayed.

The United States Supreme Court plurality opinion in Casey, at 873, stated:

“Though the woman has a right to choose to terminate or continue her pregnancy before viability, it does not at all follow that the State is prohibited from taking steps to ensure that this choice is thoughtful and informed. Even in the earliest stages of pregnancy, the State may enact rules and regulations designed to encourage her to know that there are philosophic and social arguments of great weight that can be brought to bear in favor of continuing the pregnancy to full term, and that there are procedures and institutions to allow adoption of unwanted children as well as a certain degree of state assistance if the mother chooses to raise the child herself. '[T]he Constitution does not forbid a State or city, pursuant to democratic processes, from expressing a preference for normal childbirth.'"

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. at 511 (opinion of the Court) (quoting Poelker v. Doe, 432 U.S. 519, 521, 53 L. Ed. 2d 528, 97 S. Ct. 2391 (1977)). “It follows that States are free to enact laws to provide a reasonable framework for a woman to make a decision that has such profound and lasting meaning. This, too, we find consistent with Roe's central premises, and indeed the inevitable consequence of our holding that the State has an interest in protecting the life of the unborn.”

Americans overwhelmingly support the right of women to receive information about fetal development and alternatives with a 24 hour period of reflection. In a national CNN/USA/Today/Gallup Poll (January 10-12, 2003), 88% of Americans said they favored a law requiring doctors to inform patients about alternatives before performing the abortion procedure (only 11% opposed).

According to the same poll, 78 percent of Americans favored a law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours before having the procedure done (19% opposed).

Similarly, in a Harris Poll (December 10-12, 2008), “88 percent favor informed consent laws that provide women with information about abortion’s risks and alternatives beforehand” 

In conclusion, the Abortion – Woman’s Right to Know is not an attack on a personal freedom, but a guarantee of it.  It is constitutionally and legally sound.  It safeguards a woman's right to know and to make informed decisions, helps protect physicians from lawsuits, and is a reasoned and compassionate response to the needs of concerned pregnant women.

NC House Proposed Budget Defunds Planned Parenthood and Limits Abortion Funding

UPDATE:

The NC House passed the budget on a veto proof majority of 72-47. There were three provisions of particular interest to pro-lifers that withstood the efforts to amend them:  the Repeal of the Abortion Fund, the prohibition of abortion in the administration of a governmental health plan or government offered insurance policy, and the de-funding of Planned Parenthood.

The amendments that were offered to amend these provisions were numbers 17, 19, 20, and 21.  To see all the votes and the exact wording of the amendments, click here.  To see all the votes, be sure to click the tab reading " View All Votes" on the "Vote History" box.  Read the earlier post below.

Approximately ten Planned Parenthood supporters attended the House Appropriations meeting on April 27 sporting pink tee shirts.  Others, including a couple of the representatives on the committee, wore stickers saying, “I stand with Planned Parenthood.”  They are upset because there is a section in the proposed budget that defunds Planned Parenthood. Inc. and its affiliate organizations.

During the day long meeting comprised of explanations and amendments, Rep.Verla Insko (D-Orange) offered two amendments aimed at restoring the funding to Planned Parenthood.  The first amendment was to restore all funding, while the second aimed at allowing Planned Parenthood to receive funds that come to them through the state from other funding sources.

Both of the amendments failed.  The first vote was a recorded vote; 37 voted to restore the funding to Planned Parenthood while 51 voted to keep the section which defunds Planned Parenthood.  The vote was mainly along party lines.

Rep. Insko defended her attempts to restore the funding by saying that Planned Parenthood provides family planning and contraceptive services to 25,000 women and to some men.  She did not mention the abortion and abortion referral services that Planned Parenthood provides.

The Daily Tarheel quoted Paige Johnson, lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Central North Carolina, saying, “Losing funding would disproportionately affect low income women who rely on Planned Parenthood for services like mammograms and birth control” ¹ According to the web site operated by Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Inc. none of the nine Planned Parenthood Health Centers in NC do mammograms, all nine web sites say they provide “mammogram referrals”²

Each of the nine Planned Parenthood Health Centers in Asheville, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston Salem charge for their services, take insurance including Medicaid, and expect payment at the time of service unless other arrangements have been made.  They discount some services, but not abortion services or HPV vaccines, by 50% for those under 18. 

Five (Chapel Hill, Durham, Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Winston Salem) provide abortion services.  Chapel Hill provides full abortion services, including the chemical abortion RU-486, up to 20 weeks lmp; Fayetteville, up to 14 weeks lmp; Wilmington, up to 13.6 lmp; and Winston Salem, up to 16 weeks lmp.  (Note: NC requires abortions after 20 weeks or more to be performed in licensed hospitals.)

The cost varies from $400 for the chemical abortion; $330 for an abortion up to 12 weeks lmp; $975-1025 for an abortion 17-18 weeks lmp; and $1525 for an abortion up to 19 weeks lmp. These charges do not include IV medication, $100; ultrasound, $116-175; medication for RH negative, $33-103, or follow up for the chemical abortion if over a month after the initial visit, $170-200. ³ 

Additionally, they charge $30 for a required surgical procedure within a month of the chemical abortion or $55 if the surgical abortion occurs after 1 month.  These charges substantiate the claim that the RU-486 chemical abortion does not always result in the complete expulsion of the dead unborn child and a surgical abortion is later needed to complete the abortion..

The web site for the Chapel Hill Health Center furthers says, “We have funding which allows us to offer large discounts on abortion services to those who qualify based on their income and family size.”³ Since this center is located near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one would assume that these discounts would be offered to students who can not include their parent’s income as their own and would therefore qualify for a discount based on their income.  

In response to remarks made by Rep. Alma Adams (D-Guilford) in favor of restoring the funding, Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) pointed out Planned Parenthood’s ties to its founder Margaret Sanger’s well established support of eugenics and the part her views still play in how Planned Parenthood operates and what its mission is.  Rep. Stam also made references to how North Carolina has had to deal with its own past attempts at eugenics. He reminded Rep. Adams that he had sent her a book about this eugenics connection because of her close association with Planned Parenthood. 

Rep. Stam did not mention the name of the book he sent to Rep. Adams, but this author suspects it might be “Margaret Sanger’s Eugenics Legacy: The control of Female Fertility” by Angela Franks, Ph. D.  Dr. Franks spoke at a Prayer Breakfast sponsored by North Carolina Right to Life in 2010 in Raleigh.  Her web site says her book is “a meticulously researched and carefully referenced work on the history and ideology of Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood.”⁴

Two other budget items of interest to North Carolina Right to Life and pro-lifers in general are the Repeal of the State Abortion Fund and the limits on abortion for the state health plan and other government administered insurance plans. 

After being slashed from more than a million dollars to $50,000 in 1995, the State Abortion Fund has been at that $50,000 level until now. If this current budget provision remains intact, this will be the first time since1978 when the fund was first established by Governor Jim Hunt that there will not be a line item in the budget funding abortions with state dollars.   

The other section in the budget which prevents abortion funding states: “No State funds may be used for the performance of abortions or to support the administration of any governmental health plan or government-offered insurance policy offering abortion, except that this prohibition shall not apply where (i) the life of the mother would be endangered if the unborn child were carried to term or (ii) the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit medical care provided after a spontaneous miscarriage.”⁵ 

Various legislators have tried unsuccessfully in the past to rid the State Employees Health Plan of elective abortion coverage. This section limiting coverage will finally accomplish what prior attempts have failed to do.

More recently, the University System has begun requiring students who do not have private coverage to sign up for a student health insurance plan through the University which does provide elective abortion coverage.  This section limiting abortion funding will fix this problem. 

If these sections survive the attempts to undo them, then these provisions will provide the tax payers of the state with a great victory. The vast majority of taxpayers, including those who consider themselves “pro-choice,” do not want their tax dollars to pay for abortions. 

While there were no attempts to amend these sections of the budget, the debate is not over.  The proposed budget now goes to the House floor the week of May 1 and then to the Senate where it will be debated in committee and on the Senate floor.  Stay tuned to find out what happens to these provisions.

NOTE: NORTH CAROLINA RIGHT TO LIFE TAKES NO STAND ON CONTRACEPTIVES, MAMMOGRAMS, ETC.  These items are only mentioned because they were brought up in debate and to point out the discrepancies between what Planned Parenthood says and what it does.

Resources:


House Budget H 200

Planned Parenthood: Abortion

Planned Parenthood: Money

Planned Parenthood: Mega Clinics

Planned Parenthood: Politics

Planned Parenthood: The Organization

Polling: Abortion, Funding, Pain of Unborn, Etc.

Abortion-Woman's Right to Know Introduced in NC House and Senate

North Carolina Right to Life is pleased that Reps. Ruth Samuelson and Pat McElraft in the House and Senators Andrew Brock, Kathy Harrington and Warrren Daniel in the Senate have introduced the Abortion-Woman's Right to Know, our top priority for this legislative session. In the House, the bill number is H854; in the Senate, the bill number is S769.

Generally speaking, the decision whether to have an abortion is often a traumatic one. It is not made any easier by ignorance.  The question has too often been framed as a choice between a lifetime of misery or a quick fix.  The issue is more complicated as many women later sadly realize.  

Many women who undergo abortions later face years of psychological pain and trauma.  Some experience physical problems. A woman needs to be aware that abortion does not offer an easy escape from her problems. Often, it only complicates them.

Informed consent legislation is not an attack on a personal freedom, but a guarantee of it.  It is constitutionally and legally sound.  It safeguards a woman's right to know and to make informed decisions, helps protect physicians from lawsuits, and is a reasoned and compassionate response to the needs of concerned pregnant women.

When a pregnant woman is fully informed about abortion and the alternatives, often she will choose to give birth rather than abort her child.  Therefore, this legislation has the potential to reduce dramatically the approximately 30,000 abortions performed in our state every year.  Based on statistics compiled in other states who have such WRTK laws, there could be several thousand fewer abortions in NC every year with a WRTK in effect.  In fact, South Carolina has experienced a dramatic drop in the numbers of abortions in their state since passing pro-life legislation: Click here.

Finally, North Carolina is one of only two Southern states without such a law. Please note: the red states have WRTK laws in effect; the brown states have ineffective laws; and the yellow states are states which do not have WRTK laws.

ACTION ITEM (Please act immediately.): 

The bill is in the NC House Judiciary B Committee. If your House member is a member of this committee, ask him or her to vote in favor of the bill and oppose any amendments that would weaken or gut the bill.  

If your House member is not a member of the committee, ask him or her to support the bill when it comes to the House floor for a vote and to oppose all amendments offered on the House floor to weaken or gut the bill.   

The crossover deadline (the date by which this bill has to pass the House in order to be eligible to be considered in the Senate) is currently May 12. 

Resources:

Research Bulletins on Abortion's Negative Effects

Fact Sheet on PsychoSocial Consequences of Abortion

Fact Sheet on Physical Complications from Abortion

Economic impact of Abortion

RU-486