New Hanover Commissioners get an earful, reverse course on contraception grant (video)

What a difference a month makes, as New Hanover County Commissioners voted (3-2) Monday evening to accept a $9,000 contraceptive grant.

The all-male board caused an uproar in March when they rejected the family planning funds, with the board chairman lamenting if women were “responsible people and didn’t haven’t sex to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

At Monday’s public hearing, Brandie Stork, a health care provider, spoke for dozens of other women in the audience who told the five-member board she was “disgusted by the rhetoric” in the previous meeting that implied women were irresponsible and promiscuous.

Then Stork left them with this final warning:

“Elected representatives who put politics before people historically lose. If the New Hanover Board of County Commissioners  can’t divorce itself from politics of this issue, well, I guess we’ll see you boys in November.”

In the end, three of the five commissioners reversed their earlier votes, deciding with more information, it was indeed in their best interest to accept the money for the county health department. Commissioners Brian Berger and Jason Thompson and  were the only ones who voted against the family planning grant.

To hear Stork’s remarks, click below: