NC Groups Call on Cooper to End Free Pass for Abortions, As All Other Elective Surgeries Canceled During COVID-19 Clamp Down

RALEIGH – Much has come to a standstill as governments issue shutdown decrees in their efforts to slow the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus and ease expected strains on the healthcare system. Part of that means elective surgeries have been canceled or postponed, by government mandate. That knee replacement you’ve desperately been needing so you can function and earn a living? Canceled, for now.

There is an elective surgery that gets an exemption from the mandate, however; aborting unborn babies. Yes, elective abortions are carved out for protection. Now, several statewide groups are calling on Governor Roy Cooper to halt elective abortions during the COVID-19 crisis, for consistency in mitigating the risks of spreading the virus, and to err on the side of life at a time where the value of life is forefront on most people’s minds.

From the Christian Action League of North Carolina:

“Half a dozen statewide organizations representing thousands of North Carolinians are calling on Governor Roy Cooper to put a stop to elective abortions during the COVID 19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, after other elective surgeries had been canceled and as gyms, movie theaters, health clubs, hair salons, massage therapists and other non-essential businesses prepared to comply with executive orders to close their doors, the organizations issued a letter asking the Governor to stop giving the abortion industry a free pass.

“My daughter-in-law is caring for three small children with a hip desperately in need of replacing, but her surgery has been cancelled because it’s considered an elective surgery. That’s completely understandable with the ongoing COVID 19 crisis,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, which teamed with the NC Values Coalition, the NC Family Policy Council, Concerned Women for America of NC, NC Faith and Freedom Coalition and NC Right to Life, to craft the letter.

“What isn’t understandable is how anyone would think terminating a pregnancy is not an elective surgery. Isn’t that what pro-choice proponents have been saying all along? Isn’t that what the Governor has been saying? We’ve heard it argued repeatedly, ‘Abortion must remain a woman’s choice.’ Yet now it’s not a choice, but an essential service. The letter we’ve sent to the Governor only asks him to take action consistent with what he has said about abortion all along.”

The missive to the state’s top elected official points out how stopping abortions during the pandemic would protect clinic patrons and staff from increased risks of exposure to the Coronavirus, decrease visits to already overextended emergency rooms and free up much-needed medical supplies.

It asks Gov. Cooper to ensure that emergency response funds are not diverted to the abortion industry, to halt all abortions except in cases where necessary to save the life of the mother or prevent “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function,” and to urge abortion providers to donate personal protective equipment and other supplies to the coronavirus response.

The letter is one of many pleas to elected officials to suspend abortions during the crisis. Hand of Hope Pregnancy Center created an online petition asking Cooper to follow suit with Ohio and Texas, where abortion clinics have been included in executive orders to halt non-essential procedures. The petition had nearly 1,500 signatures as of Thursday morning.

Also this week, organizations representing 30,000 doctors — the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the Catholic Medical Association and the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons — issued a statement decrying the continued practice of abortion amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

“Continuing to perform elective abortions during a pandemic is medically irresponsible,” they concluded.

The Rev. Creech pointed out the tragic irony of abortion clinics continuing to go about “business as usual” while the rest of the state and nation are taking extreme and often sacrificial actions aimed at saving lives.

“Think of it. Many throughout our state have been ordered to ‘shelter in place’ – to spare suffering – to spare life from a deadly pandemic. A baby is in the most secure refuge – sheltered in place by the highest executive order – that of the Almighty – but that order would be violently defied by the deadly abortionist’s knife with permission from our Governor and the state’s health directors,” he said.”

The governor has signed executive orders forcing businesses to close their doors, forcing people into the unemployment line and very likely ruining the livelihood of small-business owners, in an abundance of caution regarding the spread of SARS-CoV2. He and others have admonished those that may hoard medical supplies or unecessarily burden the healthcare industry at a time of extreme need for resources and funds. Yet, while sanctimony about the value of life versus the value of a paycheck abounds, elective procedures to kill the unborn were given special status.