Democrat Governors Move to Shield Abortion Seekers and Providers
(CNSNews.com) – North Carolina’s Democrat Governor Roy Cooper issued an executive order on Wednesday, directing Cabinet agencies “to protect people or entities who are providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining lawful reproductive health care services in North Carolina,” including abortion.
Effective immediately, the order says, no Cabinet agency employee “may provide information or expend…time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources in furtherance of any investigation…that seeks to impose civil or criminal liability or professional sanction upon a person or entity” that provides or receives reproductive health care services, or helps people obtain such services that are legal in North Carolina.
The order also protects against extradition “of any person charged with a criminal violation in another state where the violation arises out of…reproductive health care services that are lawful in North Carolina.”
Section 5 of the order deals with “travel for pregnant Cabinet Agency Employees.”
“Cabinet Agencies may not require any pregnant Cabinet Agency employee to travel from North Carolina to a state that has imposed restrictions on access to reproductive health care services if those restrictions do not include an exception for the health of the pregnant Cabinet Agency employee satisfactory to that employee.”
And Section 6 directs the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to work with law enforcement agencies in protecting access to and egress from reproductive health care facilities.
The order encourages all other state agencies below the Cabinet level to “voluntarily adopt the provisions of this Executive Order, or similar provisions.”
Other Democrat governors are making similar moves, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who also signed an executive order “to protect the freedom and privacy of Coloradans” on July 6.
According to that order, “All people in Colorado have the right to make personal choices about their reproductive health care. The recent United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization does not alter or negatively impact anyone’s rights under Colorado law.”
Polis said, “Colorado is committed to protecting access to reproductive health care. No one who is lawfully providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining reproductive health care in Colorado should be subject to legal liability or professional sanctions in Colorado or any other state, nor will Colorado cooperate with criminal or civil investigations for actions that are fully legal in our State.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was among the first Democrats to push back on the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and sending abortion decisions back to the states.
At her urging, the Democrat-led legislature passed a resolution to “solidify the right to abortion access in New York State.
“When enacted, the amendment will add ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy to existing protections that currently cover discrimination based on race, color, religion or creed.”
California voters will have an opportunity in November to amend the state’s constitution to include the right to an abortion, and in the meantime, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order “to further protect women coming to California from other states” for abortions.
The order “prevents any information, including medical records and patient data, from being shared by state agencies or departments in response to inquiries or investigations brought by other states or individuals within those states looking to restrict access. The state is expanding efforts to protect women seeking abortions or reproductive care as well as anyone assisting those women,” Newsom said.
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