Story by Liz Chen
Abortion. It’s one of the top and most controversial topics gripping the nation today. From statehouses to the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue of a woman’s right to choose versus the rights of a fetus are being debated and legislated, with many throwback laws recently taking effect.
So, where do 9th Congressional District candidates Dan Bishop, the Republican, and Dan McCready, the Democrat, stand on the issue?
On opposite ends is the easy answer.
First, we explore Bishop’s stance.
Bishop is pro-life; in May, the News & Observer reported that Bishop supports the recent Alabama anti-abortion law that makes abortion illegal, including in cases of rape or incest.
“I think it’s wrong to have an abortion in the case of rape or incest, just as it would be wrong to take the life of a child born to incest,” Bishop told the News & Observer.
He continued, saying “I would support legislation,” in North Carolina that outlaws abortion in both cases.
Bishop then compared overturning Roe v. Wade to the Dred Scott decision, a U.S. Supreme Court case that reinforced the notion that slaves living in a free state were not entitled to freedom and were not, and could never be, U.S. citizens.
Bishop said that “in future years Roe v. Wade will be seen as similar to the Dred Scott decision.”
The comparison drew our interest, as he compared the life and freedom of African Americans to the rights of a fetus.
Bishop voted to pass a North Carolina proposal, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that would have required doctors to try to save the life of an infant born alive during an abortion attempt. The bill would have legally punished doctors who kill newborns surviving abortion attempts.
Gov. Roy Cooper, who believes the Born Alive bill unnecessary, vetoed the bill, and the GOP failed to override Cooper’s veto in a 67-53 vote on June 5.
Bishop maintained that his views reflect “an evolving consensus against abortion.” He did not provide statistics to support his claim, which appears incorrect. According to a May 21 CBS News poll, 67 percent of Americans think that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned.
McCready, for his part, supported Cooper’s veto, and he also backs the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, saying the new anti-abortion laws are unconstitutional. On his website, McCready states that he supports a woman’s “right to choose.”
“The thought of any abortion is tragic to me,” McCready told The Charlotte Observer. “But I do not think it’s the government’s job to get between a woman and her doctor.”
So, here’s the inflammatory language of the day’s politics, narrowed to this race: In an online ad, Bishop accused McCready of “fighting to legalize late-term abortion” and “even infanticide.”
McCready responded by saying the word “infanticide” was a red herring, and that Bishop’s use of it was misleading voters. Infanticide is the deliberate killing of a newborn child while abortion is the termination of a pregnancy – which many see as entirely different issues.
“Dan Bishop can spend all his time talking about infanticide,” McCready told The Charlotte Observer. “But nobody supports that in North Carolina. It’s just not happening.”
