Two North Carolina Senate Committees have approved a bill that would ban abortions on preborn babies performed because of their race, sex or disability.
The Human Life Non-Discrimination Act/No Eugenics (H.B. 453) is a brief, three-page bill that would outlaw abortions performed because of discriminatory intent. The Senate Health Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill this week. It now goes to the rules committee. If approved, it will then head to the Senate floor for a vote.
The bill states: “No person shall perform or attempt to perform an abortion upon a woman in this State, unless the physician who is scheduled to perform or attempt to perform the abortion is related to has confirmed before the abortion that the woman is not seeking an abortion” for the following reasons:
- “The actual or presumed race or racial makeup of the unborn child.”
- “The sex of the unborn child.”
- “The presence or presumed presence of Down syndrome.”
The bill argues that federal law already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex or disability. Therefore, these same protections should be applied to human beings before they are born as well.
“The inherent right against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or genetic abnormality is protected in federal and state laws. For example, the 1964 Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.) and the laws of every state protect against discrimination on the basis of race or sex,” the bill reads.
“Despite equality under the law being guaranteed to all women in the United States and most of the developed world, sex-selection abortions continue to occur in the United States,” the bill also notes. “Unborn children perceived as ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled,’ such as those with Down syndrome, are routinely aborted in the United States.”
“It is the intent of the General Assembly … to prohibit the practice of abortion for the purpose of terminating the life of an unborn child because of that child’s race, sex, or the presence or presumed presence of a genetic abnormality like Down syndrome.”
The Daily Citizen previously reported on the bill when it passed through the North Carolina House of Representatives. The bipartisan bill garnered support from six Democrats, including Reps. Gailliard, Graham, Pierce, Quick, Smith and Wray.
The North Carolina Senate is composed of 28 Republican members and 22 Democrats. Should the Senate majority approve the bill, it still faces a steep climb to become law.
According to the Martinsville Bulletin, “Gov. Roy Cooper is unlikely to sign it if it reaches his desk … Republicans would be unlikely to get enough Democrats to join them to override a possible veto.”
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Bill to Protect Preborn Babies with Down Syndrome from Abortion Advances in the North Carolina House
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