UPDATE: North Carolina Should Make Its Abortion Ban Even Tougher, Still

 

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. | Isaiah 5:20

This guest post is an UPDATE from Sophia Altamura, Regent Law 3L:

 

Back in April of this year, I wrote about North Carolina’s abortion law and why it should be stricter – why, ideally, it should prohibit all abortions from the moment of conception. At the time, the law dictated that abortion was allowed to occur up to 20 weeks.

However, on June 29, Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 190 into law. Initially, he vetoed the bill, but the General Assembly recently voted to override the veto. So, as of July 1, North Carolina’s General Statutes Section 90-21.81A states that “it shall be unlawful after the twelfth week of a woman’s pregnancy to procure or cause a miscarriage or abortion in the state of North Carolina.” The law does allow for three exceptions: an abortion can legally occur up to 20 weeks in cases of rape or incest, and up to 24 weeks if doctors deem it necessary to avert death (not including psychological or emotional conditions). The revised law also adds the requirement of an in-person meeting with a doctor to discuss abortion-related risks, among other informed consent necessities, 72 hours before an abortion is to take place.

This new law is certainly an improvement from the old one. Now, more babies’ lives will be saved. The fact that a greater number of babies – babies who bear the image of God from the moment of conception – will be given the gift of life is certainly cause for celebration.

Nevertheless, we cannot fully celebrate. First, the law is still inconsistent with North Carolina’s right-to-die statute, which asserts that no person has a right to deliberately end a life outside of the natural process of dying. Second, and most importantly, taking away an innocent human being’s right to life and chance to experience his or her future is unacceptable, and in fact evil. Even the youngest among us have the God-given right to life. Further, those babies are God’s precious, treasured children whose lives are masterfully created by Him and whose futures are held in His perfect hands. That is the way these babies in the womb should be viewed.

With this new law, many babies will be murdered in North Carolina, as it does not completely outlaw abortion – it still allows it for the first few months of a pregnancy. As long as mothers are legally allowed to kill their own children, Christians must steadfastly continue to fight for the unborn and take a stand for the truth. And the truth is that the purposeful ending of a precious, innocent life is always wrong, regardless of how many weeks old or years old that life is.