Although Republican Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina promised not to sign any bills restricting abortion during his campaign, he ended up doing so anyway. North Carolina’s SB 132 is a the new bill that will demand all health teachers tell seventh-grade students that abortion can cause future premature births, something that is completely incorrect. The bill has been approved by the state legislature and was signed by the governor a couple of weeks ago.

Governor McCrory argues that this is an education bill, not an abortion limitation, so he believes that signing this bill does not violate the pledge made during his campaign. Personally, I think this is about abortion and restricting it because it portrays abortion as a procedure with a serious medical complication that just isn’t an effect of abortion. The purpose of this bill is to prevent someone from choosing to have an abortion. Just as closing clinics or instituting mandating waiting periods restricts access to abortion, so does misinformation.

To me the worst part of this bill is that it requires educators to lie to students. Abortion is a safe and legal medical procedure. Sadly, teachers because of this bill now have to give false information to their students, even if they don’t want to.

Clearly, there’s something wrong with this picture. Education is key in making healthy decisions. And giving students misinformation by portraying abortion as something that will cause future health issues does not allow students to make informed and healthy choices. Simply, the government should not obligate teachers to lie to students. It’s ridiculous that the North Carolina government feels it must lie to twelve- and thirteen-year-olds in order to further their anti-choice agenda.