Last week, North Carolina’s House Republicans passed an anti-Shariah bill onto which they tacked a bunch of anti-abortion amendments, with an eye toward shutting down most of the clinics in the state. Wednesday morning, experiencing a momentary bout of wisdom, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory threatened to veto the bill, gently reminding his fellow Republicans in a statement that he promised to focus more on the economy than uteruses during his campaign: “The Governor also noted that there is much unfinished business in the legislature and again stressed the importance of passing legislation that will work to grow the North Carolina economy.” Translation: You may be trying to pass as many anti-abortion laws as you can before the voters boot you, but I fully intend to keep running for office, if you don’t mind.
GOP legislators in the state, however, believe that “no” means “keep trying,” and they immediately turned around and tacked the same set of anti-abortion amendments to a motorcycle safety bill. Needless to say, motorcycle safety and access to abortion have very little in common, though it’s nice to know you’ll have to wear a helmet as you drive your motorcycle across state lines to get an abortion. Safety first, even while forcing women to choose between dangerous black-market abortions and forced childbirth.
The anti-choice legislators demonstrated how popular they believe these restrictions will be by amending the bill in as much secrecy as possible, providing no public notice and slipping the amendments in at the last minute. One Democratic legislator complained on Twitter:
If this attempt fails, perhaps Republican legislators will finally take the hint and start focusing on the economy, as McCrory suggests. Ha, just kidding.
