For Immediate Release: May 4, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
SB 20 Provides Paid Parental Leave for Teachers, Daycare Funds and Community College Tuition Assistance for Parents
RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Senate has passed the Care for Women, Children and Families Act to protect unborn babies from late-term abortions, sending the measure supported by 62% of voters to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. The state House’s passage, which occurred yesterday, and today’s Senate vote were both by large majorities.
SB 20 provides $160 million in support for children, families and maternal health. The bill would expand access to childcare with a $75 million investment, provide more money for foster care, establish paid maternity and paternity leave for teachers and state employees, invest in reducing infant and maternal mortality, and help moms and dads complete community college.
A key provision of the bill tackles the mail-order of abortion pills that is opposed by 63% of Americans. The abortion pill, mifepristone, is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit challenging the FDA’s action to fast-track the pills by classifying pregnancy as an illness and never conducting studies focused on how the drug affects minors. The rate of ER visits due to chemical abortion has increased by 500% since mifepristone was approved, with women experiencing complications such as hemorrhaging, the need for emergency surgery and even death.
Caitlin Connors, southern regional director for SBA Pro-Life America, celebrated the advancement of the will of North Carolinians:
“Nearly two-thirds of North Carolinians support protecting babies from abortion by at least 12 weeks, and Americans oppose late-term abortions by the same margin. Democrats within the state and nationally who oppose this measure are out-of-touch with the will of the people. Democrats are for allowing abortion at the point when an unborn child can feel pain and at the same gestational stages that babies who undergo in utero surgery receive anesthesia. Such a position is a political liability for Gov. Cooper, Attorney General Stein and pro-abortion Democrats across the nation. The governor’s position of allowing supporting abortion through nine months of pregnancy is extreme.”
Based on the most recent CDC data, protecting unborn children at 12 weeks would impact over 3,000 lives within the state each year, not including reducing abortion tourism from other states.
By 12 weeks’ gestation, all major organs have formed and the heart has beat over 10 million times. At this stage, babies suck their thumbs and already have a right-hand or left-hand preference. Prominent facial features including the nose, cheeks, eyes and ears are recognizable; teeth are developing; and the body responds to touch. For more information on fetal development, see Charlotte Lozier Institute’s “12 Facts at 12 Weeks.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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