NC Voters Feel Betrayed Over Abortion Move

Critics say Gov. Pat McCrory promised he'd never sign such a bill
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2015 10:06 AM CDT
NC Voters Feel Betrayed Over Abortion Move
Governor Pat McCrory speaking about transportation plans on Sept. 18, 2014, at the Fayetteville Regional Airport in Fayetteville, NC.   (AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, Andrew Craft)

Some voters in North Carolina are feeling betrayed after Gov. Pat McCrory announced last night he'd rubber-stamp a bill that will triple the waiting period for abortions in the state, the News & Observer reports. "I will sign this bill," McCrory said in a statement issued last night in regard to the new law, which will extend the abortion waiting period from one to three days, pile on more clinic inspection requirements, and limit the types of doctors who can actually carry out abortions, the paper notes.

But critics of the bill, making its way to McCrory's office after a 71-43 North Carolina House vote, say the governor made a promise during his 2012 run. When asked just two days before Election Day that year, "If you are elected governor, what further restrictions on abortion would you agree to sign?" McCrory answered, "None," per MSNBC. "Going back on his word by allowing these new restrictions to become law would represent a fundamental betrayal of voters' trust," a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman tells the paper. McCrory's statement says he believes the bill contains "some very positive progress" that will "protect women's health." (In Arizona, doctors now have to tell women some abortions are reversible.)

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