H54, “Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment,” is an abortion method ban that would make dilation & evacuation prodcedures, referred to in the bill as “dismemberment abortion” illegal except in the case of “serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother.” The bill intentionally uses the term of “dismemberment abortion” instead of dilation and evacuation, reflecting anti-abortion rhetoric. The bill makes exceptions for “serious heath risk to the unborn child’s mother” but does not include “psychological or emotional conditions.” Throughout, the bill refers to the patient as “the unborn child’s mother.”
H54 intentionally targets physicians who provide abortion. The bill text specifically offers civil immunity to patients, nurses, technicians, secretaries, receptionists, pharmacists, or “other employee or agent who is not a physician.” Moreover, the bill would make any physician who provides the procedure guilty of a civil offense and liable for sanction from the NC Medical Board.
Rep. Debra Conrad of Forsyth is a primary sponsor of the bill, which emerged amidst a flurry of anti-abortion legislation in early February 2019.
Read more on H54 here.
Read MoreAccording to his admissions on conservative talk radio, Pat McCrory may be getting the opportunity to avenge a rejection he’s carried since high school.
In early February, former Governor Pat McCrory began a fellowship with the UNC Institute of Politics, where he will be hosting a not-for-credit leadership seminar-lecture series. For the record, this series is neither for credit nor a formal academic class hosted in any part of the university’s curriculum, but rather a not-for-credit series hosted by a student group. On his podcast, he announced his not-for-credit series, titled “Hard Lessons of Leadership: An Insider’s Look That You Won’t Read In A Textbook,” and divulged the topics and titles for each module. He then mentioned multiple times that he was very thankful for this position because as a high school graduate, he was rejected from UNC-Chapel Hill and is now very excited to have his “second chance” to attend and teach his not-for-credit seminar.
Read MoreAs expanding access to health care becomes one of the leading priorities of the 2019 legislative session, gender identity, a less discussed determinant of access, deserves attention. Trans people are fighting to receive quality health care in North Carolina.
Trans people have been targeted by legislation in North Carolina in the past. One powerful instance was HB2, known as the “bathroom bill,” which restricted public bathroom use for people who were not cis men or women. Another part of this bill that was vastly overlooked made it clear that employees are able to discriminate against a person based on gender identity.
At the close of 2016, newly elected Republican treasurer Dale Folwell announced a goal to “reduce the state health plan’s 32 billion dollar debt, provide a more affordable family premium especially for our lowest paid employees and provide transparency to the taxpayers.” In 2017 Folwell announced the state health plan would no longer cover gender-affirming care for trans state employees as part of his cost-saving effort. This cut continues to undermine the well-being of trans people in North Carolina and advances a path to sanction the denial of rights of key constituents. At 2018’s open, hormone therapy- a method of gender affirmation and one utilized treatment for gender dysphoria- was cut from the state health plan. In 2019, this health plan will come under scrutiny by the legislature as they create NC’s overall budget- and it is in need of some serious changes.
Read MorePull out your parliamentary procedure handbooks, NC House members voted Wednesday on their official rules for the 2019-20 Session. Despite some analysis claiming they’d be more collaborative, Republicans blocked a number of changes to the rules that would have increased transparency in the legislative building.
Read MoreRemember Pat McCrory? The one-term Republican governor who refused to concede the election, citing false accusations of voter fraud? The same guy who spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend his anti-LGBTQ HB2 known as the bathroom bill? Yes, that Pat McCrory. Not to worry, howeve…
Read MoreState Superintendent Mark Johnson doubled-down Wednesday on his controversial teacher pay comments from early 2018 during an interview on a conservative talk radio show.
Last year Johnson faced criticism for claiming that the base starting teacher salary was “good money” for people in their 20s. For reference, Johnson, 35, makes $127,561, but if he were still on the teacher pay scale would be making just $38,000.
Johnson repurposed his now-debunked talking point to again claim teachers in NC are making plenty of money.
“[average teacher pay] is also more than the median wage of a person in North Carolina with a four-year degree for a year. That means that the average teacher is making more than what these median households in North Carolina make, families are bringing home,”Johnson said Wednesday on Wilmington’s Big Talker.
This claim is blatantly false, especially his point about what families are actually “bringing home.”
Read MoreHistorians and organizers have spilled too much ink over the past few years to entertain any of Goolsby’s points. Julian Carr’s dedication speech from 1913 to the Daughters of the Confederacy, in which he recounts a time when he “horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady” (found here) refutes any assertions made that Silent Sam has nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow.
Read MoreCampaign finance reports for the fourth quarter of 2018 were due January 10th, 2019. Here, we've aggregated the information for the candidates we highlighted in our Races to Watch Report. We will be updating these tables as the last few reports are submitted. Be sure to subscribe t…
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