North Carolina House Passes New Restrictions on Abortion

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

Spectators watched the debate in the North Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday.

Legislation that would impose new restrictions on abortion clinics moved out of the North Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday in a form that would give wide power to Gov. Pat McCrory's administration.

The bill became the focus of battling factions in the Republican Party this week, with a series of public legislative debates and back-room maneuvering over how to create new limits that would appeal to the governor, who is a Republican.

Mr. McCrory threatened to veto a Senate measure that would have required doctors to be present for all doses of abortion drugs and force clinics that perform abortions to meet standards similar to those of an ambulatory surgical center.

Opponents said such restrictions would force most of North Carolina's abortion clinics to close.

Under the House proposal, which has yet to be considered by the Senate, the state's Department of Health and Human Services would have the authority to "apply any requirement" imposed on ambulatory surgical centers to abortion clinics if the regulations do not impede access to abortion care.

The bill also requires a doctor to be present during the first dose of a drug to induce abortion.

Mr. McCrory took office in January after promising he would not support any new curbs on abortion access. After he expressed his displeasure with the Senate plan, his administration helped House lawmakers craft one he would support, members of the House said Thursday.

North Carolina is the latest state to try to tighten abortion rules by adding new mandates for practitioners.

Wisconsin's governor last week signed into law a measure forcing abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, a requirement similar to those Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee have tried to implement since 2012. (Alabama's, Mississippi's and Wisconsin's laws have been suspended by judges.) The Texas Senate will consider a similar bill Friday.

In North Carolina, Representative Ruth Samuelson, a Republican, said her proposal was about safeguarding women, not stemming access.

"This is really all about protecting the health and safety of women," Ms. Samuelson said. "We are not out here trying to shut down every abortion clinic in North Carolina."

But Democrats, hamstrung by Republican control of both legislative chambers and the governor's office, worried that by ceding regulatory power to an executive department, Mr. McCrory's administration would enjoy broad authority over the rules that govern abortions.

"This can still close clinics in North Carolina, depending on what the department decides to do," said Representative Jean Farmer-Butterfield.

Although the legislature has supported other bills about abortion this year, the debate intensified July 2, when Senate Republicans made a surprise move and amended an unrelated bill to include their recommended restrictions and passed the measure all within 24 hours.

The Senate's conduct drew widespread condemnation. Mr. McCrory criticized the body, and House Republicans ultimately chose to pursue their own proposal.

The vote on Thursday came after an emotional public hearing this week, part of a procedure that Ms. Samuelson said yielded "more debate and more opportunity for change and discussion and correction than if we had followed the normal process."

But Representative Rick Glazier, a Democrat, decried the House's version as a "rewrite by moonlight" and said it was symbolic of the legislature's rightward tilt since Republicans took complete control of North Carolina's government.

"To an extreme legislative majority bent on eliminating the right to choice, everything looks like a health regulation, ready to be used and abused to dismantle access to that choice," Mr. Glazier said.

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