CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – On Tuesday night, lawmakers overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper on Senate Bill 20, which will implement restrictions on abortions. In the lead-up to that debate, more than 200 businesses across the state signed a letter to lawmakers asking them to reconsider their vote. 

“Policies that restrict reproductive health care and discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people go against our values and are bad for business and for North Carolina,” the letter states.

The signees range from the mountains to the coast and represent everything from independent breweries to national companies, like Yelp.

Jamie Fiocco organizes books on shelves at Flyleaf Books. (Rachel Boyd/Spectrum News 1)

“In my business as an independent bookstore and as a sole proprietorship, we can speak out and our personal values can also be reflected in our business,” Jamie Fiocco said, who co-owns Flyleaf Books. “So we have the ability to do that, and I think that it’s important that we do let people know how we feel.”

Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill is one of the North Carolina businesses that added their names to a “Don’t Ban Equality” letter, asking legislators to stop the veto override on Senate Bill 20.

The bill restricts access to abortions, which Fiocco, the founder of the bookstore, worries will negatively impact her business and the economy. 

“As an independent bookstore, part of what we exist for is to allow people to exercise their freedom of expression,” Fiocco said. “For someone to walk in and feel safe regardless of, you know, their sexual identity or their heritage, is really important to us.”

She said their goal in business has always been to encourage diversity and a community that can understand and respect it. 

Pins are for sale in the bookstore in Chapel Hill. (Rachel Boyd/Spectrum News 1)

“Part of our mission is to bring thoughts and information and speakers to people, so that they can make up their own mind about issues that are really important to our community,” Fiocco said. 

She said the economic and political spheres are intrinsically linked and this legislation has the power to deter people from living and working in North Carolina. 

“Authors will not talk here,” Fiocco said. “The publishers will not send them someplace and theoretically support that economy because they don’t support the issues that are becoming legislated.”

She said her motivation for putting her signature on the letter is protecting those who enter her shop. She wants workers to be happy, customers to feel safe and everyone to know that their presence is valued. 

“Sadly, there are some folks who feel that it would be highly detrimental to their business if they did speak out their true feelings, but I am at a point in my life where this is too important for me to not say something about it,” Fiocco said.