Opinion Piece Takes Issue With Reasoning Behind N.C. Local Governments' Cuts To Abortion Coverage

North Carolina House Minority Leader Paul Stam (R) "is a committed, passionate and effective opponent of the right of North Carolina women to choose to terminate a pregnancy," but recently he "has turned to claimed legal mandates, that, on close reading, cannot be justified," according to a Raleigh News & Observer opinion piece by Gene Nichol, a professor of law and former dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Nichol explains that Apex, N.C., Mayor Keith Weatherly -- who also is Stam's legislative aide -- and the Apex Town Council recently "voted to eliminate coverage for elective abortions in the municipality's health care plan." Weatherly said that the move was compelled by a 1981 case Stam brought against the state. In the case, the state Supreme Court "ruled that counties could not levy property taxes to pay for elective abortions for indigent women," according to Nichol. Shortly after Apex's decision, the Wake County, N.C., Board of Commissioners announced that the county employee health plan would no longer cover abortion except in cases of medical necessity, Nichol writes. He also cites news reports that Stam called county leaders to threaten legal action if they did not remove the coverage, which Stam claimed violated the court ruling.

According to Nichol, "Despite the heated references to Stam v. State, the decision to include or exclude abortion services for municipal employees is a policy choice, not a legal one." He explains, "Cities and counties can't tax, in various ways, unless given permission by the legislature to do so," adding, "The Stam case held that, for such welfare programs, no permission had been granted." However, the "same cannot be said of employee benefit plans," Nichol writes. According to North Carolina local government statutes, taxes "can be levied to sustain 'the general administration of counties and cities,'" he says. Nichol continues, "The power denied in the Stam case is, by governing statute, explicitly granted for employee benefit plans."

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the U.S. Constitution does not "prohibit the use of government dollars to support abortion services," Nichols writes, adding that nothing "in the North Carolina constitution, the North Carolina code or the holdings of the North Carolina Supreme Court prohibits such benefit plans." He concludes, "Counties and cities may opt to reject these sometimes essential health services. If they do, it's a choice, not a mandate" (Nichols, Raleigh News & Observer, 3/1).


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