GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1993 SESSION
CHAPTER 412
AN ACT TO PROTECT A PERSON'S ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FACILITIES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. Article 35 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 14-277.4. Obstruction of health care facilities.
(a) No person shall obstruct or block another person's access to or egress from a health care facility or from the common areas of the real property upon which the facility is located in a manner that deprives or delays the person from obtaining or providing health care services in the facility.
(b) No person shall injure or attempt or threaten to injure a person who is or has been:
(1) Obtaining health care services;
(2) Lawfully aiding another to obtain health care services; or
(3) Providing health care services.
(c) A violation of subsection (a) or (b) of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both. A second conviction for a violation of either subsection (a) or (b) of this section within three years of the first shall be punishable as a general misdemeanor. A third or subsequent conviction for a violation of either subsection (a) or (b) of this section within three years of the second or most recent conviction shall be punishable as a Class I felony.
(d) Any person aggrieved under this section may seek injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent threatened or further violations of this section. Any violation of an injunction obtained pursuant to this section constitutes criminal contempt and shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than 30 days and no more than 12 months.
(e) This section shall not prohibit any person from engaging in lawful speech or picketing which does not impede or deny another person's access to health care services or to a health care facility or interfere with the delivery of health care services within a health care facility.
(f) 'Health care facility' as used in this section means any hospital, clinic, or other facility that is licensed to administer medical treatment or the primary function of which is to provide medical treatment in this State.
(g) 'Health care services' as used in this section means services provided in a health care facility.
(h) Persons subject to the prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section do not include owners, officers, agents, or employees of the health care facility or law enforcement officers acting to protect real or personal property."
Sec. 2. G.S. 14-277.2(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) It shall be unlawful for any person participating in, affiliated with, or present as a spectator at any parade, funeral procession, picket line, or demonstration upon any private health care facility or upon any public place owned or under the control of the State or any of its political subdivisions to willfully or intentionally possess or have immediate access to any dangerous weapon. Violation of this subsection shall be a misdemeanor. It shall be presumed that any rifle or gun carried on a rack in a pickup truck at a holiday parade or in a funeral procession does not violate the terms of this act."
Sec. 3. This act becomes effective October 1, 1993.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 20th day of July, 1993.
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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives