12-Week Abortion Ban as Direct Assault on Poor Women Across the State

Repairers of the Breach

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 12, 2023 

Contact:  Steph Derstine, steph.derstine@berlinrosen.com

Erica Noll, erica.noll@berlinrosen.com, 424-237-6790

‘Nothing this legislature is doing is about choosing life’

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Bishop Barber, Repairers of the Breach, Local Faith Leaders, Impacted People Condemn GOP-Led 12-Week Abortion Ban as Direct Assault on Poor Women Across the State

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Clergy Read Aloud Letter of Demands to Legislators, Calling On Senate Leader Berger, House Speaker Moore to Cease Attacks on Democracy

Raleigh, N.C. -  Dozens of diverse, interfaith clergy members, impacted persons, and advocates from across the state joined Bishop William J. Barber II and Repairers of the Breach at a press conference Friday at the General Assembly to condemn extremist legislators’ push for an extreme abortion ban in the state, calling it the latest example of their attack on our democracy and the state’s 4.7 million residents who are poor or low-income. 

As they gathered together outside the press room at the General Assembly, Bishop Barber and clergy members raised their demands for the governor to go a step further than vetoing the bill this weekend and use his bully pulpit to condemn legislators’ targeted assaults on poor and low-income people across the state. 

“There’s a scripture in the Bible where God says, ‘Today I set before you life and death. Choose life.’ I’m simply here today to say that nothing this legislature is doing is about choosing life,” said Bishop Barber in the General Assembly press room. “If extremists were deeply concerned about life, they would have done something to address the number one killer of children: gun violence. If they were really concerned about life, they would declare a state of emergency because poverty, the fourth leading cause of death in this nation, is an epidemic in North Carolina.”

If passed, the abortion ban would immediately endanger the lives of poor women throughout the state who, for the past decade, have been denied life-saving health care by the General Assembly’s refusal to expand Medicaid. 

“God weeps because this bill takes away our freedom. God weeps because this bill brings despair and for some birthing people, this bill will bring death,” said the Rev. Rebecca Hewitt-Newson, who was reading on behalf of Rev. Molly Brummett Wudel of Emmaus Way Church. “The question is, do you members of the General Assembly weep with us? God does.”

At the press conference, women clergy members raised their concerns about the impact the ban and other proposed legislation will have on women across North Carolina. They called out lawmakers who claim to value life, but fail to protect the lives of poor women by raising the minimum wage, subsidizing child care or family leave, or passing legislation to address gun violence. 

“For many women making this choice, it’s a complicated decision,” said the Rev. Chalice Overy of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. “What isn’t complicated is the hypocrisy of this bill. These lawmakers who stand for individual freedom are intruding in the most personal way, into women’s wombs. They’re trying to create moral high ground but placing all the burden of their so-called morality on the backs of low-wage women. I say to our lawmakers if you care about women, let them decide what they will do with their bodies along with their healthcare provider. If you care for families, deal with issues of living wage, make sure people get out of poverty. Stay out of women’s wombs.”

"If only our legislature would spend more time allocating more money and care to women and children,” said the Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland of the NC Council of Churches. “They could fully fund childcare and education and focus on maternal mortality, which is higher in the U.S. than any other developed country, and higher for women of color."

Before they delivered a letter outlining their demands to state legislators, participating faith leaders, advocates and impacted persons brought a powerful conclusion to the press conference, reading the first part of the letter in unison and urging the General Assembly to stand against harmful policies that would have an outsize impact on the state’s most vulnerable people. 

“We write as a moral fusion movement made up of directly impacted leaders, workers, clergy and people of faith, and advocates from the state of North Carolina and across the country, to urge you to stand with the people of North Carolina against harmful policies that are a direct assault on the state’s poor and low-income communities,” they read. “This latest legislation only makes it more clear that the North Carolina General Assembly has no interest in listening to the demands of its constituents. There is nothing “pro-life” about denying reproductive rights to women who have been denied access to healthcare for a decade. As representatives of a broad coalition of religious and moral traditions, we recognize that people may have genuine reasons to oppose abortion, and we respect their right to make that choice and teach others in their communities to do the same. But it is a cruel distortion of morality to try to force that conviction on others while, at the very same time, denying people the basic necessities we all need to live.”

After the press conference, Bishop Barber brought local faith leaders’ demands directly to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper in a meeting where he pressed the governor to publicly call out Republican extremists for trying to use the State House to carry out their attacks against poor women and families in North Carolina. 

“As Gov. Cooper signs the veto and connect the dots,” Bishop Barber said before he entered the private meeting. “We say to him, don’t let this be just about an abortion bill. The same people that are trying to take a women’s right to an abortion are the same forces doing this are blocking living wages, are blocking health care, are not funding education. We will not have an isolated fight. We will expose the hypocrisy.”

Friday’s press conference comes just weeks after Bishop Barber, faith communities, low-wage workers and advocacy groups were blocked by metal barricades from entering the North Carolina State House to mark the 10th anniversary and recommitment of the Moral Monday movement and to deliver a warning to North Carolina’s newly-minted supermajority that it must use its newfound power to uplift the people of the state. 

To note, forty-eight percent of people in North Carolina are poor or low-income. This includes 56 percent of children (1.3 million), 49 percent of women (2.5 million), 62 percent of people of color (2.3 million), and 39 percent of white people (2.4 million). About 9,000 North Carolinians are homeless. Working at the state minimum wage, it takes 87 hours of work per week to afford a 2-bedroom apartment. Two million workers make under 15 dollars an hour—49.7 percent of North Carolina’s workforce – and 1,194,000 North Carolinians participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.