We’ve written a lot about the Republican takeover  in the NC General Assembly and what an anti-choice majority will mean for women’s rights. NC’s new small Big in your Bedroom government and Protect our Bodies from Eminent Domain.  

Speaker Thom Tillis, Senate Leader Phil Berger, and Rep Paul Stam

Not even a month after the election, we’re getting closer to seeing exactly what that picture will look like when the Legislature convenes in January. In a (only slightly) surprising move yesterday, House Republicans voted Mecklenburg County legislator Thom Tillis as Speaker of the House.

This represents a surprising move in that Tillis beat out Minority Leader Skip Stam having held office for only four years. The not-so-surprising part is that he won his place as Speaker after having been credited with masterminding the Republican takeover of the General Assembly.  First runner-up Stam was voted Majority Leader.

So what does this mean for reproductive freedom? According to the N&O: “Tillis’ selection as speaker may mean that some social issues won’t have the same priority they might have under Stam who, for instance, is a dogged abortion opponent.”  

We can only hope that’s the case considering Tillis came out of the gate the morning after Election Day with this: “We’re a centrist state. We’re a small government, we’re a limited-government, free-market, stay-out of my-personal-life electorate.”

If that’s truly what soon-to-be Speaker Tillis believes then I sincerely hope that he’ll prove it by focusing on the issues that really matter to the state like jobs and education.

I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that limiting reproductive freedom may just have a special place on the “priority list of legislation that got nowhere under the Democrats”.

We’ll certainly be prepared for every last anti-choice bill that may be on that list. Let’s just hope that Tillis remembers his own advice from the day after Election Day as well as the fact that the independents that he appeals to do not like to re-elect candidates who actively restrict their reproductive freedom.

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