There are few issues in our country that are more personal than abortion. The NCAFP opposes any effort that impedes or interferes with the relationship between a patient and their physician. A primary guiding principle of the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians' (NCAFP) has been, and continues to be, that physicians must be able to practice medicine directed by their years of medical education, training, experience, and best available evidence, freely and without threat of punishment, harassment, or retribution. Additionally, patients must be able to depend on their physicians to help them make critical decisions about their personal health, including reproductive health. 

To reiterate a previous statement by AAFP, we stand “firmly against any policies that unnecessarily regulate the evidence-based practice of medicine, criminalize physicians and medical care, threaten the patient-physician relationship, and inhibit the delivery of safe, timely, and comprehensive care, including reproductive health services and information.” Our patients, not policymakers, must make their own medical decisions. 

We acknowledge some positives in this bill, including additional funding for contraception, paid parental leave for state employees, an increase in funding for foster parents, and an increase in funding for access to childcare. However, for the reasons noted above, we oppose Senate Bill 20 as written.