A bill broadening so-called conscience protections and the number of employers who can refuse to provide contraception services in health insurance coverage has been approved by a North Carolina House committee.

The bill approved Wednesday allows any medical professional to refuse to participate in an abortion and allows any business to refuse to provide contraception coverage on religious or moral grounds.

The bill expands so-called conscience protections beyond doctors and nurses to include people such as pharmacists and technicians.

The contraception provision expands existing law that exempts religious organizations to any private or nonprofit company.

The bill also outlaws health care plans that include abortion services from future online marketplaces of private plans offered under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Opponents say the bill tramples women's rights.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

The North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office has launched a mobile version of the Department’s website.

The mobile site, m.sosnc.com, allows anyone to search the SOS Corporations, Lobbying Compliance, UCC Debtor, Federal Tax Lien, and Charitable Solicitation Licensing databases from web-enabled smartphones or tablets.

After searching in one of the databases, users can simply pull up PDFs of filings. 

“This puts a wealth of searchable data literally in the hands of SOS customers who need to access the site on their smartphones and tablets in order to save time and money,” Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall said Tuesday. “Making these databases accessible on mobile platforms is an important step in keeping pace with how our customers are accessing information.”

To try out the mobile site on your web-enabled smartphone or tablet, just go to m.sosnc.com.

SALISBURY - From State Representative Harry Warren: Representative Warren (R-Rowan County) joined the majority of his colleagues in the NC House of Representatives in sponsoring a bill that would change how redistricting is done in North Carolina. Sixty-one legislators, Democrats and Republicans, are cosponsors of HB 606, Nonpartisan Redistricting.

The measure will take the politics out of the process by shifting the responsibility of drawing maps from lawmakers to an independent professional nonpartisan staff.

"What we are doing is good for everyone on North Carolina.  We are creating the most efficient, forward looking redistricting process in the U.S.  North Carolina is gaining tens of thousands of citizens every year and changing rapidly. This bill will help us meet the challenges of ensuring fair representation in a state growing as quickly as we are,” Representative Warren said.