A bill that would make public educators teach students that abortions can cause preterm births is headed to the state Senate floor.

It’s one of a raft of measures introduced this session aimed at restricting and reducing the number of abortions. Senate Bill 132 would require health instructors teaching students in the seventh grade and older to include information about what the bill calls “preventable causes of preterm birth, including induced abortion.”

One of the legislature’s biggest committee rooms was overflowing with spectators who gathered to hear what lawmakers had to say about Senate Bill 132. The measure’s sponsor, Republican Senator Warren Daniel, told the room the bill is about giving young people scientific information about future health risks associated with abortion.

“It’s a bill based on science, not based on political ideology, ” Daniel said.  “We educate our children on the risks of cigarette smoking, we educate our children on the risks of drinking and other hazardous behaviors and this is just a bill that’s based on the scientific evidence that you will have a risk of premature birth if you decide voluntarily to have an abortion.”

Anti-abortion advocates at the General Assembly have passed out studies for years that link premature births to past abortions. The Senate Health Committee invited UNC School of Medicine Pediatrics Professor Marty McCaffrey to run through a few of those studies and speak about his own experiences.

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Posted by Libergirl