S353 Summary

• Expands healthcare conscience protections to include nurses and other health care providers (beyond physicians) who object to abortion on moral, ethical, or religious grounds, protecting them from damages or disciplinary action.

• Prohibits coverage of abortion services in qualified health plans offered through health insurance exchanges in North Carolina, with exceptions for rape, incest, or when the mother's life is endangered.

• Restricts county and municipal health insurance plans from providing abortion coverage greater than what the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees provides.

• Prohibits performing or attempting to perform sex-selective abortions when the sex of the unborn child is a significant factor, with civil remedies including damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief available to the woman, her spouse/guardian, or parents (if minor).

• Amends the Women's Right to Know Act to require the physician performing a surgical abortion to be physically present during the entire procedure and physicians prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to be physically present when the first drug is administered; directs the Department of Health and Human Services to amend clinic certification rules and study enforcement resources by specific dates.

• Increases penalties for unsafe lane changes that endanger motorcyclists from $500 minimum to $750 minimum when causing serious injury or property damage exceeding $5,000, and authorizes license suspension up to 30 days.