Yesterday, with no public notice, North Carolina state House members amended a bill on motorcycle safety to feature sweeping new restrictions on reproductive health.
A grand total of one day later, it was passed.
The state House on Thursday passed the sweeping bill that its backers say will make abortion clinics safer but that opponents contend is meant to put them out of business.After a three-hour hearing, the vote was 74 to 41. House Speaker Thom Tillis, a Republican from Mecklenburg County who is a candidate for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate, cast a vote in favor of the bill.
Democratic state Rep. Nathan Baskerville noted during the debate, "We're being tutored by the Republican majority about what big government really looks like."
Indeed, as Rachel explained on the show last night, the GOP bill is poised to close 15 of the state's 16 clinics where abortion services are provided.
The bill now heads to the state Senate, which also has a Republican majority, but of even greater interest is North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R), who swore as a candidate last year that he would leave the state's existing abortion laws alone. Whether the motorcycle-turned-abortion bill will get his signature remains to be seen.