Was Congresswoman Alma Adams arrested for demanding abortion rights? Not really. She was arrested for sitting down in the middle of a busy intersection to block traffic for publicity for abortion. Let me remind you more about Alma Adams.
Congresswoman Adams also served many years in the North Carolina House of Representatives. She was known for support for the victims of the North Carolina Eugenics Program and for her support for any and all abortions. As a result Planned Parenthood gave Representative Adams its honorary “Margaret Sanger Award”.
It is not well known that in 1967 North Carolina became the second state in the nation (after Colorado) to somewhat liberalize its 1881 abortion law. The main architect of the change was Dr. Wallace Kuralt, the head of Mecklenburg County Social Services. He was the main proponent of involuntary sterilizations in the post war era. The North Carolina program lasted until the early 70’s. Kuralt’s eugenics orientation was the principal rationale for the 1967 liberalization of abortion law.
Margaret Sanger was the main proponent of eugenics in the U.S. as well as contraception. But Margaret Sanger wrote against abortion in her 1920 book The American Woman.
In 2011 during debate on the Woman’s Right to Know Act, Rep. Adams made a passionate speech against women having the right to know the truth about abortion. I asked a Page to deliver to Rep. Adams, after her speech, a copy of Sanger’s 1920 Essay opposing abortion. She paced around looking very angry.
Now in the United States House of Representatives, Congresswoman Adams just voted for a bill that goes way beyond even Roe v. Wade. She and all but one Democratic member have taken a position supported by only 10-15% of North Carolina voters.
Has she cancelled her “Margaret Sanger” award yet?
Paul Stam was the Majority Leader of the North Carolina House in 2011 and Speaker Pro Tem in 2013-2016. He practices law in Apex. For more information www.paulstam.info.
