New NC Voting Restrictions Heavily Burden Women

“Voter suppression is a critical reproductive justice issue. Because of the new voter suppression laws, hundreds of thousands of women in North Carolina could be denied the right to express themselves on issues that directly impact their lives and their futures; these issues include the right to decide whether, when and with whom to have children,” said Suzanne Buckley, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Foundation.

To learn more about how North Carolina’s new voting restrictions impact women, visit http://www.southerncoalition.org/nc-women-voters-heavily-burdened-by-new-voting-restrictions/

Be the face of NARAL NC on your campus!

Look at all the fun these folks are having! You’re looking at three students who served as NARALNC Campus Representatives at NC State last year. Below, they are participating in the HKonJ Rally in downtown Raleigh last February. Campus Representatives work to educate their fellow classmates about the importance of reproductive rights and reproductive justice.

Last year alone, our students worked to raise awareness about Crisis Pregnancy Centers near their college campuses by hosting screenings of 12th and Delaware, sponsored a performance of The Abortion Monologues to raise awareness about the deeply personal nature of choice, and organized an amazing photo campaign documenting their fellow classmates’ passion for pro-choice politics. 

Now it’s your turn to get involved! All the details are below. In order to apply, you must be a student at a University in North Carolina. Sorry to our out-of-state friends! If you’re interested, send your resume & cover letter to volunteer@prochoicenc.org.

CAMPUS REPRESENTATIVES (FALL 2013)

NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina is seeking responsible, dedicated, resolutely pro-choice students (undergraduate or graduate) on college and university campuses across the state to serve as NARAL Pro-Choice NC Campus Representative. Campus Reps will work with us to educate fellow students about the importance of reproductive rights issues.

Primary duties and responsibilities:

-Working with students and organizations in your area

-Working with campus representatives across the state

-Raising awareness about reproductive health and rights on your campus

-Empowering students to become activists through advocacy work

-Representing NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina at community events

-Coordinating campus events

-Recruiting new supporters

-Participating in phone banks, canvasses, lobby days, and other activities

Qualifications:

-Passion for reproductive health and justice

-Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills

-Previous membership in campus or community organizations preferred

-Outgoing personality

Benefits:

-Gain practical experience in the reproductive rights movement

-Develop a professional network within the progressive non-profit community

-Complete college credits (if offered)

Our thoughts on this Moral Monday.

Back in October, Governor McCory made a promise to North Carolina voters: he said he would not support any restrictions on abortion. Recently, he announced that he plans to break this promise and turn his back on North Carolina women and families by signing SB 353.

This bill is filled with restrictions on access to safe and legal abortion care intended to set the clock back on women’s reproductive rights in our state. One of these measures would prohibit insurance plans in the state exchange from covering abortion care, and withhold that coverage to city and county employees. This bill is so extreme that it would even deny a woman coverage if she needs to end her pregnancy because her health is in danger. The others would grant the state unprecedented access into the doctor-patient relationship and create medically unnecessary restrictions designed to shut down clinics and cut off access to safe and legal abortion care.

Abortion care is a part of comprehensive reproductive health care. It is a basic health care service, and one that was upheld as a constitutional right forty-years ago. It should not be utilized as a pawn in a political game in order to advance legislators’ extreme, anti-woman agenda.

All eyes are on McCrory. Gov. McCrory should keep his campaign promise and veto the bill. To sign this bill is to put politics over women’s lives, plain and simple. North Carolina voters are watching and will hold him accountable in 2016.

Join us today and tomorrow as we make one final stand to urge the Governor to do the right thing, and veto this bill. We’ll be standing in the one place where he can’t miss us, right in front of his house. Be there if you can.

 

Why I publicly shared my abortion story

By Emily Everetts

The following is a guest post by Emily Everetts, who testified last Tuesday in front of the House Health and Human Services Committee at the NCGA in opposition to HB 695. 

On July 9, 2013, I sat nervously in the North Carolina House Health and Human Service committee meeting, waiting to give public testimony. I came prepared with my speech to oppose House Bill 695, a bill that would shut down all but one abortion clinic in the state. As the time ticked away, my stomach turned. The woman next to me reassured me that I could do it. My twitter friends were sending me constant support. Before I knew it my name was called and I began to walk towards the podium that was stationed right next to the anti-choicers mostly dressed in blue.  We pro-choicers wore pink and purple.

I introduced myself and began to tell my story. “My name is Emily Everetts,” I began.  “I was raised here in North Carolina.”  I had to remind myself to make sure to look every lawmaker who has voted against women in the eye. My stomach started to tense because I knew the sentence that was coming up next, the one that would make people upset: “I became pregnant and I chose to have an abortion.” It felt as if you could hear a pin drop. My stomach turned and my legs grew weak. I then spoke about how my story had a happy ending. I have an amazing husband and we have a 3 year old daughter together. Speaking of them made my voice quiver. Soon I was thanking the committee members for their time and returned to my seat.

I had no idea what I had just done. I view my abortion as a medical decision that was right for me, and I’m not ashamed that I made that decision.  It was the right thing for me to do. But people in the committee meeting, people sitting outside and folks all over twitter evidently thought that it was very daring (or gutsy) of me to talk about it so publicly. Tears were being wiped away, cheers were being yelled and tweets of how courageous and brave I was were being tweeted out. In those short minutes, I put a face to this issue that lawmakers have been talking about and that was the most important thing to me.

I’ve been asked why I decided to make something so personal, public. My answer is simple, why not? When sweeping anti-abortion bills are being proposed by people who (most likely) have never had and never will have an abortion procedure, I believe that women, like me, who have had abortions, have a responsibility to remind lawmakers that we are real people. It seems to me that anti-choice proponents in positions of power, and in society in general really, treat women who have had abortion as a subspecies. We’re shamed from telling our story. Society makes everyone think that abortion is a taboo topic and that it should be that way, but it shouldn’t be this way. Abortion isn’t shameful. It’s a safe and legal procedure that is done daily. We need to speak up and use our voices to eliminate the stigma associated with abortion.

The author with her husband and three-year old daughter.

Women, like me, who have had abortions, can lead successful and happy lives and many women do. I know my story has a happy ending. I have an amazing family that stands behind all me, and that includes standing behind my personal decisions. I have a beautiful daughter that my husband and I planned for when we were ready. I’ve been able to pursue my education goals and be in control of my reproductive freedoms. Women across North Carolina, this Nation and throughout the World deserve to have the right to the same. We all deserve to make medical decisions without shame and without government intervention. We all deserve happy endings.

Emily Everetts is a wife, mother and women’s health activist living in North Carolina. She is currently working toward her Bachelor’s in Social Work. You can follower her on twitter @becomethebullx, and watch her full testimony at the NCGA here, at about 1:17:30. Check out SPARKsummit, for a slightly different version of this blog post. 

Moral Mondays at the NC General Assembly

Yesterday, we were proud to stand with progressive allies across the state at the largest Moral Monday protest yet.

This week marked the fifth “moral monday” protest. Moral Mondays, spearheaded by the North Carolina NAACP, are planned acts of civil disobedience. Concerned citizens enter the General Assembly building on Jones Street and when law enforcement agents ask them to leave, they refuse. Following in a long tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience that extends back to Martin Luther King Jr., to Ghandi, to Henry David Thoreau, North Carolinians are willingly heading to prison on behalf of their principles.

Reverend Doctor Barber, president of the NC NAACP, addresses the crowd (photo credit: Alicia Chen).

Those of us that work for organizations that engage in policy work and political organizing on a daily basis (like NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, for example), can at times become disillusioned and/or deflated when things don’t go our way. And with an anti-choice majority in the Senate and the Legislature, things are not going our way on a regular basis. On bad days, it’s easy to feel that our work is meaningless, or unappreciated. And that’s precisely why the Moral Monday movement is so important.

Yesterday, I stood on Halifax Mall with over 1000 of my fellow North Carolinians who, like me, feel our legislature has gone too far. I ran into neighbors and old friends and felt the amazing sense of recognition you feel when you find yourself among like-minded people. More than that, I felt like I was part of something bigger than me, or my organization. I felt like I was part of a movement for change that is spurred by regular people who have had enough of legislation that does not reflect their values or beliefs. And that’s a powerful feeling.

NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina volunteers prepare to head to Halifax Mall for the Rally (photo credit: Alicia Chen).

North Carolina voters are not just unhappy with the NC General Assembly, they are standing up for their beliefs. Last night, over 150 people were arrested for those beliefs. And the moral monday movement is not going anywhere.

In spite of their dismissal of Moral Mondays, last night, the extremists at the NCGA were not able to conduct business as usual, which is what civil disobedience is all about.

Today, we feel grateful to live and work in North Carolina, and proud to be a part of the Moral Monday movement.