Two options have been floated recently by the North Carolina General Assembly. The first is a Heartbeat Act that would protect unborn babies from abortion at the point a heartbeat is detected (6 weeks). The other is a bill to protect unborn babies starting at 13 weeks when babies’ pain receptors start developing. Based on 2020 data from the Department of Health and Human Services, a 13-week bill will save only 13% of the unborn babies currently being aborted annually, while a heartbeat bill will save 86% of those babies. That’s a difference of 21,902 lives. Passing a 13-week limitation on abortion, however, will ensure N.C. remains a major abortion destination because almost every state around us has protected pre-born babies at conception or detection of a heartbeat.

Pro-life leaders of every color and political party across the nation have linked arms with grassroots movements to advance the protection of black and brown unborn babies. The tragic reality is that 79% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities are within walking distance of neighborhoods with proportionately higher black or Latina women populations. According to U.S. census data, there were 18,871,831 black American citizens in 1960. Since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, abortion has killed an estimated 20 million black babies — more than the entire black population of 1960. For the first time in 50 years, North Carolina legislators have the opportunity to save tens of thousands of babies annually and to provide life-saving alternatives to brave mothers who choose life. A study showing that 96% of 5,577 biologists from 1,058 academic institutions spread over 86 countries affirms that a human’s life begins at fertilization. Abortion is an ethical issue - not a scientific one.

For decades, Republicans have campaigned on being pro-life. Being pro-life is easy when you can’t do anything because of Roe v. Wade. But now, saving unborn lives from abortion is a real possibility. We will see which Republicans gave lip service for votes and which genuinely meant it. On the other hand, every single Democrat in the North Carolina General Assembly has signed on to sponsor a bill that would keep abortion legal for up to 20 weeks (well after pain receptors are developed). Hoke County’s Democratic representative Garland Pierce, however, has indicated that he may be willing to follow his conscience as a man of God. To override Governor Cooper’s inevitable veto, all Republicans would need to support the heartbeat bill as well as one Democrat. We hope that Democrat will be Representative Pierce.

All legislators who are struggling to enact protection for pre-born babies should remember the words of the late Martin Luther King, Jr.: “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” We ask Hoke County citizens to contact Garland Pierce and encourage him to do what he already knows is right and vote for the Heartbeat Act. Representative Pierce may be reached at:

Email: Garland.Pierce@ncleg.gov
Business Phone: (910) 369-2844
Capitol Phone: (919) 733-5803