ICYMI: Abortion Advocates Held Press Conference to Mark One-Year Anniversary of SB 20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2024

CONTACT: 

• Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic Media Office: [email protected] 
• Pro-Choice NC Media Office: [email protected]
• Red Wine & Blue Media Office: [email protected] 

ICYMI: Abortion Advocates Held Press Conference to Mark One-Year Anniversary of SB 20

RALEIGH, N.C. – Earlier today, abortion advocates held a press conference in downtown Raleigh to mark one year since the passage of Senate Bill 20, North Carolina’s restrictive abortion law that banned abortion after 12 weeks and imposed new restrictions that have severely limited access to abortion care for patients and providers across the state. 

Representatives from Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic, Pro-Choice North Carolina, and Red Wine & Blue were joined by a local abortion provider, patient storyteller, and pro-reproductive freedom legislators to reflect on the harm of this law and the necessity of supporting champions of reproductive freedom on the ballot this November to prevent the passage of more restrictive bans in 2025. Republican candidate for governor Mark Robinson has explicitly stated his intent to pass a complete ban on abortion if he is elected with a willing legislature.

“Republican nominee Mark Robinson's extremist views pose a great threat to reproductive freedom in North Carolina,” stated Iliana Santillan, Executive Director at La Fuerza and patient storyteller. “His careless disregard for women's autonomy and his advocacy for a total abortion ban demonstrates a dangerous willingness to impose his own personal beliefs on others. Robinson's attempt to dictate his position based on his own ideology is not only unjust, but fundamentally at odds with the principles of individual liberty and bodily autonomy.”

Pro-reproductive freedom legislators in the General Assembly spoke to the proven harms SB 20 has had on the people of North Carolina, highlighting the disproportionate impact of these health care restrictions on people of color, people who live in rural parts of the state, and people who have low incomes. They also spoke to the threat of Mark Robinson’s candidacy and what a continued anti-abortion supermajority would mean for abortion access in 2025.

“North Carolinians must know one thing that was born out from SB 20, Republicans do not trust women to make their own decisions. Senate Bill 20 told North Carolina women that politicians do not trust you,” said Representative Julie von Haefen, serving House District 36 in Wake County. "If we don't reject this extremist position in November, more radical bans will be introduced and passed in the legislature. Bodily autonomy and self-determination are fundamental human rights, that we should and must respect. Electing champions of reproductive freedom is the key to upholding those rights."

View the completed livestream video online here.

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BACKGROUND:

• There are 14 abortion clinics in nine counties across North Carolina – meaning that 91% of North Carolina counties do not have an abortion provider. 
• The Society for Family Planning’s year-end #WeCount report indicates that there were approximately 49,000 abortions provided in North Carolina in 2023 and that there was a marked decrease in abortion care following July 1, 2023, when SB 20 went into effect.
• As of May 1, 2024, when Florida’s new abortion ban went into effect, North Carolina is the closest state for thousands of people across the Southeast to receive an abortion after six weeks. Last year, approximately 84,000 abortions were performed in Florida – 1 in 12 in the United States.