FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2021
Contact: Prudence Robertson, [email protected]
Advocates Urge Legislature to Stand Up to Cooper’s Extremism
Washington, D.C. – Today North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act/No Eugenics (H.B. 453), legislation to ban discriminatory abortions based on race, sex or a disability such as Down syndrome. The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) slammed the veto in a statement:
“Shame on Governor Cooper – once again, he has sided with the radical abortion lobby over the will of North Carolinians,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, a North Carolina native. “Previously Cooper vetoed compassionate legislation to ensure that babies who survive abortions receive medical care. Now he refuses to put an end to lethal discrimination against children in the womb. In North Carolina and across America, the people through their representatives are sending a clear message that it’s time to humanize our laws. State legislatures have enacted 89 new pro-life laws this year and counting. Pro-abortion Democrats cannot block this groundswell of momentum forever. We support an override effort and urge lawmakers to stand up to Gov. Cooper’s extremism.
“We thank state Reps. Pat McElraft, John Bradford, Kristin Baker, and Dean Arp, our good friend and advocate Tami Fitzgerald, and all our local allies fighting tirelessly to protect the most vulnerable.”
Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of NC Values Coalition, added:
“Saving unborn babies who have been diagnosed with Down syndrome from being targeted for selective abortion based solely on their disability prevents discrimination. Ending that kind of discrimination based on a disability is most certainly not an ‘unprecedented government intrusion’ as Cooper said, because our civil rights laws were intentioned to end just that kind of discrimination.”
Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., senior fellow and director of life sciences at SBA List’s research arm Charlotte Lozier Institute, and anti-discrimination advocate Katie Shaw both testified before the state senate in support of the bill.
Sixteen states have enacted bans on one or more types of discrimination abortion – including 12 states that protect unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome. Seventy percent of Americans oppose abortion based on the expectation that an unborn child may have Down syndrome, a Marist poll earlier this year found.
Recent polling shows a strong majority of voters reject abortion extremism and politicians who support it. The poll comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court granting review of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion limit in which it will consider the question of whether all “pre-viability” bans on abortion are unconstitutional. The case is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
SBA List is a network of 900,000 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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