RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Another effort by North Carolina Republicans to narrow situations in which abortion is legal in the state is set to be debated in a legislative committee.
A House panel planned Tuesday to discuss a measure that would bar a physician from performing an abortion if the doctor knows the pregnant woman wanted the procedure due to the fetus' race or the detection of the presence of Down syndrome.
Bill sponsors say procedures performed based on race or Down syndrome amount to “discriminatory eugenic abortion.” Abortion rights group oppose the measure, saying it's about stigmatizing abortion care. The legislature in 2013 passed a law prohibiting sex-selective abortions.
