NC Family Staff | May 6, 2021 | SHARE: 
The North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 453—Human Life Nondiscrimination Act/No Eugenics, by 67-42 bipartisan vote this afternoon. As NC Family has shared, this bill would prohibit abortions in North Carolina because of the race or sex of the unborn child, or a diagnosis of Down syndrome. HB 453 will now be sent to the Senate, where it must make its way through several committees before receiving a vote on the Senate floor.
In similar pro-life news, the Senate Health Care Committee passed Senate Bill 405—Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act this morning by an overwhelming vote. This bill is similar to the one that passed in 2019 but was vetoed by Governor Roy Cooper.
NC Family President John L. Rustin joined others in speaking in support of the bill in committee today. “It is unconscionable to think that in America and in North Carolina today,” Rustin said, “legislation is needed to clarify that an infant human being who is born alive after a failed abortion is worthy of life, but that is where we are.”
He also commented that SB 405 is simple and straightforward, requiring any health care practitioner present at the time the child is born alive to “Exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.” The practitioner must then transport the newborn child to a nearby hospital where it can by cared for.
“Senate Bill 405 will help prevent medical negligence and infanticide in North Carolina,” Rustin told the committee, “and it will protect innocent human life.”
SB 405, which is sponsored by Sens. Joyce Krawiec (R-Forsyth), Lisa Barnes (R-Johnston), and Amy Galey (R-Alamance) now proceeds to the Senate Rules Committee and could be heard on the Senate floor as early as next Tuesday, May 11. For further information on this life-saving legislation, refer to NC Family’s Issue Brief on SB 405.
TAKE ACTION: If you have not already, please visit NC Family’s Action Center and urge your members of the State Senate and State House to support SB 405 — Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
