North Carolina House Republicans are trying to push controversial anti-abortion measures through the state legislature without public notice by tacking it onto a bill about motorcycle safety, even though the Senate received national backlash for quickly passing its version of the bill right before the July 4 holiday.
The House GOP’s move, according to the Washington Post, comes hours after Gov. Pat McCrory (R) threatened to veto the bill unless the House bill addressed his concerns.
McCrory publicly slammed the Senate bill last week, which already passed, for similarly adding the abortion language onto another unrelated bill and failing to allow for adequate public input. In his 2012 campaign, he said he would not sign any further restrictions on abortion into law, but didn’t necessarily say he would veto it, the Post reported.
The Senate bill calls for more stringent abortion regulations and, in part, would require abortion clinics to adhere to the same standards as hospitals, forcing most of the state’s clinics to shutter.
The House Committee started debating Tuesday to decide whether it would try to pass the Senate bill or forge legislation of its own.
The abortion measures added to the motorcycle bill are less strict than the Senate’s and would not require abortion clinics to meet hospital standards, but would authorize the state Department of Health and Human Services to apply those standards as it sees “applicable.”
It also requires a physician to be present when the first drug in a chemical abortion is administered, as opposed to the Senate bill, which requires a doctor present for all drugs.
It is not clear whether the new language addresses McCrory’s concerns, although House Republicans say it does, according to the Post.
