Where I Stand
For most of us, abortion is not as simple as the Far Left or Far Right talking points. I’m a Republican, but I do not support an “extreme abortion ban,” as Roy Cooper says, or any ban on abortion in the first trimester. And I oppose any abortion restrictions that exclude exceptions for rape, incest, viability of the fetus, or health of the mother.
That’s what Roy Cooper and Marcia Morgan want you to believe. It’s a lie. You deserve the truth.
In the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, striking down Roe v. Wade and sending the issue back to the states to determine abortion policy, Justice Samuel Alito wrote of two extremes:
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Those who favor a total ban on abortion.
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Those who oppose any abortion restriction, from conception through the ninth month of pregnancy.
But he also wrote about a third group:
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“Still others in a third group think that abortion should be allowed under some but not all circumstances...”
Personally, I fall into the third group. Most Americans do too.
What does that mean? It means I support exceptions for rape, incest, viability of the fetus and health of the mother. Period. You may have seen Roy Cooper’s ad claiming the opposite. I’m telling you as clearly as I know how: He’s lying.
I oppose first trimester abortion bans.
Abortions in the second and third trimesters – that is, in months 4-9 of the pregnancy, when the baby can feel pain, has a beating heart, ten fingers, and ten toes – are abhorrent and should be restricted. Very few abortions occur after the first trimester. Virtually every country in the world bans or restricts abortion in the second and third trimester. (The few countries that allow abortion through nine months include China and North Korea.)
My opponent, Marcia Morgan, opposes all abortion bans, including late-term abortions – even in the ninth month of pregnancy. That’s extreme.
We can find a commonsense, middle ground on abortion, but not when politicians like Roy Cooper and Marcia Morgan blatantly lie to you just to win an election. Their behavior is shameful. But I believe this community – a community I love and love to serve – will see right through it.