ICYMI: State Senator Val Applewhite On the Anniversary of Abortion Ban: Robinson “Wants To Endanger Us Further”

On the one-year anniversary of Senate Bill 20, Republicans’ dangerous abortion ban, State Senator Valerie Applewhite tells the story of a near-rape she endured while serving in the military and underscores what’s at stake with reproductive freedom this November if Mark Robinson is elected.

She writes: “While Mark Robinson has dedicated himself to running health care out of North Carolina, Josh Stein has stood up for women’s health care – and for veterans’ health care – every chance he’s gotten. This grim anniversary, let us commit ourselves to making SB20 the end of our attack on women’s rights and women’s health care – not the beginning.” 

Read excerpts below: 

Fayetteville Observer: NC anti-abortion law puts military servicewomen at risk; Mark Robinson would make it worse

• One year ago today, our state passed Senate Bill 20, a dangerous bill that has restricted women’s choice and limited their access to health care. One year ago, I was among the many voices sounding the alarm about this bill’s dangerous consequences. And one year later, I am pained to write that many of my fears have come true. 

• Serving in the North Carolina State Senate, I have seen firsthand how many of the people making these laws have no experience with the heartbreaking decisions that too many women face. And this issue is personal for me. 

• When I was 18 years old and serving in the Air Force, I narrowly escaped being raped by a higher-ranking officer. Even all these years later, the memory of that night still haunts me. Sexual assault in the military is all too common. Most women in the military who are raped don’t report it, and those who do usually face retaliation. You can’t tell anyone, so you have to get terribly creative about how you deal with a pregnancy that you didn’t ask for. 

• If I hadn’t managed to escape that day, and if I had gotten pregnant, I would have found myself facing a decision I never wanted to make–one that many of my fellow servicewomen did face.  It’s a deeply personal decision, and I respect each of the decisions a woman might make in this situation.

• I first shared this story a year ago on the Senate floor, and one year later, I’m even more worried than I was then. SB20 has already put military women in a precarious position, but the Republican nominee for Governor wants to endanger us further. He has made no secret of wanting to ban abortions completely with no exceptions. He says that women who have abortions are “guilty of murder” and “have blood on their hands.” The victims of sexual violence are his targets, and it’s despicable. 

• This year, we have the chance to stop our state’s backwards slide. We can speak out about our experiences as women–and if you’re a man with a mother, a wife, sister, or a daughter, we need your voices too. We can use our voices to remind the General Assembly of the stakes of their harmful laws. And in November, we can vote for people who will protect reproductive freedom. 

• While Mark Robinson has dedicated himself to running health care out of North Carolina, Josh Stein has stood up for women’s health care – and for veterans’ health care – every chance he’s gotten. We need him as our next Governor, and we need to elect more legislators who will work with me in the General Assembly to give women their health care back. 

• This grim anniversary, let us commit ourselves to making SB20 the end of our attack on women’s rights and women’s health care – not the beginning.