BISMARCK, North Dakota, May 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Lawmakers in North Dakota have given final approval to legislation that will bar publicly-funded universities from partnering with organizations involved with or promoting abortion.
The College Fix reports that the appropriations bill in question, SB 2030, provides $11.15 million for a “higher education challenge matching grant program,” but makes receiving the money conditional on a public university affirming that it “is not sponsoring, partnering with, applying for grants with, or providing a grant subaward to any person or organization that performs,” or “promotes the performance of, an abortion unless the abortion is necessary to prevent the death of the woman.”
The bill would severely undermine pro-abortion activities at institutions such as North Dakota State University, which in 2018 gave an estimated 66% of the money it had received from a federal grant to Planned Parenthood to assemble a sex-education curriculum.
The so-called Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (which has previously invoked contemporary judicial precedent to oppose universities’ freedom to disassociate with far-left academics who negatively impact their reputations) condemned the bill as “viewpoint discrimination,” on the grounds that it would also bar universities from “fund[ing] events dealing with sexuality or legal issues regarding reproductive rights, or even fund a pro-choice speaker, if any of the organizations or individuals involved took favorable views on abortion,” or “financially supporting any event where any of the participants disseminate pro-choice literature.”
But pro-lifers argue that it’s a simple issue of spending taxpayers’ money responsibly. “You would never trust Big Tobacco to run anti-smoking education, so why do we trust the nation’s number one abortion vendor when they want to be paid for sex education?” said Students for Life spokesperson Kristi Hamrick. “School by school, state by state and at the national level, we have to cut financial ties with Planned Parenthood, which profits in the billions by selling bad advice.”
SB 2030 now goes to Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to be signed into law. Burgum has previously signed pro-life legislation, but most recently vetoed a bill to reserve girls’ athletic programs for actual girls. Concerned Women for America is currently encouraging pro-lifers to contact Burgum’s office to call on him to sign the bill.