Brunswick Beacon, 05.25.23
Our MAGA Republican legislators denied women the freedom men have to control their own bodies. They also put more guns into the hands of more people. That deadly combination delivered yet another Texas tragedy last week. It will happen here if Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s dangerous belief spreads: “Once you make a baby, it’s not your body anymore—it’s y’all’s body. And, yes, that includes the daddy.”
Gabriella Gonzalez tried to escape an abusive relationship with Harold Thompson, previously charged with beating her and threatening her three children. Pregnant by Thompson, Gabriella feared having his child would condemn her and her children to a lifetime of his abuse. She went to Colorado because Texas effectively banned abortions with its “vigilante” law that offers rewards for bounty hunters who turn in those who help women obtain them.
Thompson shared Lt. Gov. Robinson’s dangerous belief that, once he impregnated her, Gabriella’s body belonged to him. Enraged over her abortion he confronted her, choked her, then shot and killed her.
MAGA Republicans recently overrode Gov. Cooper’s veto of a law eliminating NC’s pistol permit requirement that allowed sheriffs to keep guns away from people charged with assault, like Thompson. Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead said, “there’s no way [eliminating] that [requirement] is going to make our communities safer.”
When MAGA Republicans passed their bill making abortions much harder to obtain and cutting the time for medication-induced abortions (by far the most common) to just 10 weeks, Gov. Cooper vetoed it. "This bill will create dangerous interference with the doctor-patient relationship,” Cooper said, “leading to harm for pregnant women and their families." MAGA Republicans overrode that veto, too.
Businesses, medical professionals, and most North Carolinians were outraged. But gerrymandering means MAGA Republicans don’t care what the majority thinks; about freedom from gun violence or reproductive freedom. They care about taking freedom away from anyone who opposes their MAGA Republican extremism.
Laura McGann
Leland