Motorcycle Safety Bill Used To Sneak In North Carolina Abortion Laws
A motorcycle safety bill is being used as cover for radical new abortion laws in North Carolina. This comes after the state’s governor threatened to veto the anti-abortion proposals previously attached to a bill intended to ban Sharia law.
After that bill fell apart on Wednesday, state legislators in North Carolina were swift to pin the controversial abortion ban measures to a new bill, one regarding motorcycle safety. This bill is up for a vote Thursday, says CNN.
The bill was originally intended to enact new measures enforcing greater safety standards for motorcyclists in North Carolina, but now has a section headed as “Health and Safety Law Changes.” The bits about motorcycles? Dropped to the bottom.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, campaigned on a policy of not restricting women’s rights, noted Slate. He did remark, however, that much of the bill was “sound.” It is unknown whether he intends to veto the new bill.
If Governor McCrory does, his veto may be overruled by conservatives in the state legislature who would likely be able to rally enough votes to push the bill into law.
If the motorcycle safety bill passes, with it’s anti-abortion attachments, the new laws would place strict restrictions on women’s health clinics. Most, if not all, clinics that provide abortion services would be forced to close.
The bill wold also restrict government insurance providers, like those coming from the Affordable Care Act, from funding abortion-related costs.
The attempt to include controversial anti-abortion measures into an otherwise innocuous bill has spawned a popular hashtag on Twitter, #vaginamotorcycle. Tweets lampooning the bill include ones like this:
Well, been riding around on my #vaginamotorcycle all night without a helmet. ‘Cause this vagina’s too wild to tame.
— L. M. Brown (@Duchwela) July 11, 2013
This comes at a time when several major fights on the state level to institute new abortion restrictions that defy Roe v. Wade have broken out.
Texas’ new laws have gotten the majority of the focus, but other anti-abortion bills have been making their way through states like Wisconsin and Mississippi.
The move by conservative law makers across the country aimed at legislating abortion restrictions has spread to 42 states in the US. This includes North Carolina, via the motorcycle safety bill, which will likely force a showdown between the Supreme Court and several states in the near future.
