👣 Our pro-life post-Dobbs future

Today marks the second anniversary of the monumental Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which reversed Roe v. Wade and left it up to elected representatives of the people to decide their own pro-life protections. We wanted to give you an overview of what has happened since then and what the future of life may look like. 

In response to Dobbs’ undoing of Roe, a number of states passed pro-life protections, including our own. While NC Values championed more conservative pro-life positions, North Carolina ultimately passed legislation that limited abortion to the 12th gestational week. Our goal is to join other southern states who already protect unborn babies throughout pregnancy; however, North Carolina saw over 3,346 precious unborn babies’ lives saved as a result of passing SB20, the “Care for Women, Children, and Families Act,” last year.

It was desperately needed, as North Carolina was becoming the abortion destination of the South (even at one point leading all states in its increase in abortions).

In addition to passing legislation that protected unborn-babies, states like ours also passed legislation that provided care for mothers. We are grateful our legislators appropriated $12 million in funding to empower a vast network of pro-mother pregnancy centers by providing them with the medical care and resources needed to serve some of the most vulnerable people in our society: pregnant mothers and their unborn children. We are also grateful that our legislators appropriated $160 million to fund other resources for pregnant mothers, like pregnancy homes, education, maternal care, and other services.  These services will help pregnant mothers choose life, instead of aborting their babies in desperation.

Since Dobbs, these types of pro-life, pro-mother policies have saved over 200,000 lives across the US and have helped care for many others. We’re talking about real lives and real families, like Jacob and his new adoptive parents.

However, there are many serious efforts set on reversing our pro-life progress (and they’re incredibly well funded and organized). The opponents to life are vast, and their challenges varied. From federal legislation, to cross-court challenges, pro-abortion activists have a number of strategies in the works to make abortion all throughout pregnancy the law of the land.

At the federal level, one of those tactics has been to fast-track harmful abortion drugs like mifrepristone, which are used in about 63% of all abortions in the US and 69% in North Carolina. Were it up to abortionists, these harmful drugs would be widely available and over the counter. These drugs are hardly a dose of advil. They often lead many women to agonizing pain, and the traumatic experience of even giving birth to their dead child in the lonely isolation of their bathroom floor. The Supreme Court case FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine—one of the Court’s first abortion decisions since Dobbs—considered the petition of doctors who sued the FDA for its unlawful deregulation of the harmful abortion pill in an effort to protect the health and safety of women. The Supreme Court ultimately determined that pro-life doctors did not have standing to bring forth the suit, leaving the issue to resolve itself in lower-court litigation (click here to read a more in-depth summary).

At the state level, in response to the FDA’s ill-conceived decisions regarding mifepristone, SB20 was enacted by the NC General Assembly. The bill restored and strengthened the original, commonsense safeguards for abortion drugs to ensure the health and safety of women who choose abortion. In the Bryant v. Stein case, Bryant, a NC abortionist, challenged the state’s restrictions on chemical abortion. The judge, Catherine Eagles, an Obama appointee and Chief Judge for the Middle District of NC, struck down a number of requirements that safeguarded the health of the mother.

So what is next?

Despite Dobbs and SB20, North Carolina continues to be a destination for abortion. The most recent abortion statistics from 2022 show that North Carolina saw a 228% increase in the number of women from out of state who came to North Carolina to have an abortion. They will always remember with grief that North Carolina is where they brought their baby to die.  Despite Dobbs and SB20, the situation for unborn babies and their mothers is worse in North Carolina: 

• Abortions went up by 5.7%, with just over 40,000 unborn babies losing their lives in 2022 due to abortion 
• Chemical abortions now make up 69% of all abortions 
• 92% of all abortions are done before 12 weeks of pregnancy, so our 12-week limit on abortion is accomplishing very little 
• Almost 50% of abortions are performed on black babies and women

That is unacceptable.

On a positive note, the 9-0 unanimous decision in the FDA case included some details that are encouraging for our values. As our sister organization the NC Values Institute argued in their amicus brief, the Supreme Court stated that “federal conscience protections provide ‘broad coverage’ and will ‘shield a doctor who doesn’t want to provide care (the completion of an abortion in a hospital that was started by abortion drugs) in violation of those protections.’”

However, as both the efforts of the FDA’s deregulation and NC abortionist Bryant’s legal efforts demonstrate, the pro-abortion movement is all in on accepting nothing less than abortion on demand, without limit, and paid for by taxpayers. The sheer size of their commitment to advancing a culture of death is reflected in the leadership of President Biden and Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who have stated if abortionists take over Congress they will pass a so-called Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). Nearly every Democrat in Congress has voted for this extreme bill, and they even claim they will end the safeguard of the filibuster to pass it!

What would the WHPA do, you ask? The sweeping legislation would wipe out nearly all state limitations on abortion (even late-term abortions on healthy babies). It would force nearly all states to allow painful late-term abortions in the 7th, 8th, and even 9th month of pregnancy. These are the same periods where moms are supposed to be singing to their babies because they can already recognize their mother’s voice.

Furthermore—and particularly bizarre—state and national pro-abortion legislators have set out on a warpath to disrupt and defund the services of pro-life pro-mother pregnancy centers. These are the same people who just several years earlier were demanding we do something to help mothers (and we did!).

These post-Dobbs efforts by abortionists give a picture of what is to come if we do not continue our fight for life. In contrast, NC Values has helped champion efforts in our state that not only protect unborn babies, but empowers at-need mothers with the care and services they need to choose life. We should be building off the successes of pro-life legislation and advancing policies that would streamline adoptions, increase child tax credits, make baby items tax-free, and continue funding expanding pregnancy care centers.

One thing that has not changed in the past two years since Dobbs, is our team’s commitment to protecting life and empowering mothers across North Carolina. Earlier today, we marked the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision by holding a press event where we featured several pro-life stories from women. Tomorrow, we’ll be hosting a reception for legislators to hear the case for advancing life well into North Carolina’s future.  

We need to advance a culture of life, not one of death, and we need your help to do it. There is still a lot more work to do. If you are able, would you consider supporting our time-consuming work advancing pro-life values across government by making a needed end-of-month one-time or monthly donation today?

In gratitude,

Tami & Team
NC Values