The Wake County Board of Commissioners’ new Republican majority got off to a controversial start Dec. 6 by voting to nix taxpayer-funded elective abortions for county employees and to rescind a resolution condemning resegregation in public schools.

In the first instance, the board voted 4-3 along party lines to reverse a resolution backed by Democratic commissioners in March directing the county manager to reinstate health care coverage for elective abortions, defined as those considered unnecessary for medical reasons.

The ban applies to the cost of elective abortions and associated administrative expenses “unless the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”

In justifying the change, Republican commissioners cited (PDF) President Barack Obama’s executive order ostensibly preventing federal dollars from paying for abortions under new health care regulations.

Officials are concerned that elective abortion coverage violates a state Supreme Court ruling from 1981. That decision, Stam v. State of North Carolina, found that the General Assembly never gave counties the authority to use local tax dollars to pay for the procedure for indigent women.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government have released separate legal briefs arguing the ruling doesn’t prohibit the coverage for health insurance purposes.

But during the meeting Monday, commissioner Tony Gurley disputed the reasoning. The case has “very specific language that prohibits counties from using tax money to pay for abortions,” he said.

Wake County has paid for about a dozen elective abortions since 1999, according to county officials.

Melissa Reed, vice president of Planned Parenthood Health Systems, spoke against eliminating the coverage.

“County employees work diligently and passionately to support our community, and they deserve comprehensive health coverage,” she said. “Instead of standing here and figuring out how we can deny women access to coverage, we should be thinking about how to better support our employees in these difficult economic times.”

A number of local governments nixed the abortion coverage from their health care plans earlier this year. In addition, a governing board of the N.C. League of Municipalities opted to eliminate the coverage from the sample medical plans it offers to the 522 municipal governments in its membership.

Republicans were able to push through the change after they picked up a crucial fourth seat on the commission Nov. 2.

In another party line vote, commissioners opted to rescind a resolution (PDF) approved in April condemning “any attempt to re-segregate Wake’s public schools either by race or socioeconomic status.” The resolution was in response to actions by the Wake County School Board to move from busing based on socioeconomic diversity to a community-based school assignment strategy.

In addition, the board voted to revise its 2011 statewide legislative goals document (PDF) to include opposing “legislation that would lead to collective bargaining opportunities for public employees” and supporting “legislation that would raise or eliminate the cap on charter schools.”

The board also elected former Raleigh Mayor Paul Coble, a Republican, as the commission’s chairman.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.