HB 563 – Whole Women’s Health Act
Primary Sponsors: Rep. Susan Fisher (D – Buncombe), Rep. Carla Cunningham (D – Mecklenburg), Rep. Graig Meyer (D – Orange), Rep. Bobbie Richardson (D – Nash)
SB 588 – Whole Women’s Health Act
Primary Sponsors: Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D – Wake), Sen. Terry Van Duyn (D – Buncombe), Sen. Angela Bryant (D – Nash)
This bill seeks to repeal laws in conflict with the United States Supreme Court decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.
This bill would remove the current statute language, which states that an abortion shall not be unlawful during the first 20 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy when the procedure is performed by a physician licensed in North Carolina. It would replace this language to state that it shall not be unlawful and that the procedure must be performed by a “health care provider operating within his or her scope of practice.”
This bill would also allow clinics licensed or certified by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to perform these procedures.
This bill also removes the requirement of physicians who advise, procure or cause a miscarriage or abortion to determine the age of the unborn child, the measurements of the unborn child, and take an ultrasound and submit this information to the NC DHHS.
The bill removes the requirement of physicians advising, procuring or causing a miscarriage or abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy to report that a medical emergency existed to the NC DHHS.
This bill removes the language that defines a “qualified physician” as a physician who possesses a certification in obstetrics or gynecology, a physician who possesses sufficient training based on medical standards in safe abortion care, or a physician who performs an abortion in a medical emergency.
This bill would also add a new Article to the Chapter 90 General Statutes entitled “Access to Abortion.”
This section states that “a State law or regulation that places a burden on a woman’s access to an abortion is unenforceable if, when considering the burdens imposed by the law or regulation on abortion access together with the benefits conferred by the law or regulation, the law or regulation does not confer legitimate health benefits.”
The bill lists specific instances that would place burdens on access to abortions and regulations that would confer a legitimate health benefit.
