North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper speaks to abortion rights supporters shortly before vetoing the SB20 laws limiting most abortions to the primary trimester of pregnancy, a pointy drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks gestation, in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. May 13, 2023.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters
In front of an exuberant crowd, North Carolina’s Democratic governor vetoed laws Saturday that will have banned nearly all abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
About 1,000 abortion-rights activists and voters watched on a plaza within the capital of Raleigh as Gov. Roy Cooper affixed his veto stamp to the bill in an unconventionally public display. The veto launches a significant test for leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly to aim an override vote after they recently gained veto-proof majorities in each chambers. The bill was the Republican response to last yr’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“We’ll should kick it into a fair higher gear when that veto stamp comes down,” Cooper told the gang. “If only one Republican in either the House or the Senate keeps a campaign promise to guard women’s reproductive health, we will stop this ban.”
Andrea Long, a 42-year-old mother of three from Cary, said she was honored be a part of an “electric” crowd on what she called a “historic day for freedom” in North Carolina.
“I could not stop crying tears of joy seeing the governor delay the veto stamp, but I comprehend it’s an uphill battle to maintain this momentum going,” Long said.
Cooper, a powerful abortion-rights supporter, had until Sunday night to act on the measure that tightens current state law, which bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The laws passed along party lines last week within the House and Senate. Override voting could begin next week.
Cooper spent this week on the road talking to North Carolinians in regards to the bill’s lesser-known impacts and urging them to use pressure upon key Republican lawmakers who were hesitant about further restrictions during their campaigns for office last yr.
Republicans have pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state abortion laws developed after months of personal negotiations between House and Senate GOP members. It adds exceptions to the 12-week ban, extending the limit through 20 weeks for rape and incest and thru 24 weeks for “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.
Senate leader Phil Berger accused Cooper on Saturday of “feeding the general public lies” and “bullying” members of his party to dam the laws. “I stay up for promptly overriding his veto,” he said in a press release.
Cooper has said repeatedly the small print contained within the 47-page bill show that the measure is not an inexpensive compromise and would as an alternative greatly erode reproductive rights. He cites recent obstacles for girls to acquire abortions — resembling requiring multiple in-person visits, additional paperwork to prove a patient has given their informed consent to an abortion and increased regulation of clinics providing the procedure.
Abortion rights supporters gather, near the North Carolina legislative constructing behind them, to witness Governor Roy Cooper vetoing the SB20 laws limiting most abortions to the primary trimester of pregnancy, a pointy drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks gestation, in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. May 13, 2023.
Jonathan Drake | Reuters
Cooper and allies have said those changes in practice will shut down clinics that can’t afford major upgrades mandated by recent licensing standards and make it nearly unattainable for girls who live in rural areas or work long hours to access abortion services.
In comparison with recent actions by Republican-controlled legislatures elsewhere, the broad prohibition after 12 weeks will be viewed as less onerous to those in other states where the procedure has been banned almost completely. But abortion-rights activists have argued that it’s more restrictive than meets the attention and could have far-reaching consequences. Since Roe was overturned, many patients traveling from more restrictive states have develop into depending on North Carolina as a locale for abortions later in pregnancy.
Republicans call the laws pro-family and pro-child, pointing to no less than $160 million in spending contained inside for maternal health services, foster and adoption care, contraceptive access and paid leave for teachers and state employees after the birth of a baby.
Cooper has called out 4 GOP legislators — three House members and one senator — whom he said made “campaign guarantees to guard women’s reproductive health.” Abortion-rights activists passed out fliers in the gang Saturday with their names and office phone numbers. Anti-abortion groups accused Cooper of attempting to bully them.
“The best way he’s been showing up of their districts and harassing their constituents, it’s disgusting,” said Wes Bryant, certainly one of about 70 anti-abortion protesters gathered across the road from Cooper’s rally for a prayer event.
Considered one of the House members Cooper singled out is Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County, who voted for the bill mere weeks after she switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP. The move gave Republicans a veto-proof supermajority if all of their legislators are present and voting.
Cotham has spoken out for abortion rights prior to now and even earlier this yr co-sponsored a bill to codify abortion protections into state law. Rep. Ted Davis of Wilmington — one other targeted legislator — was the one Republican absent from last week’s initial House vote. The Senate margin already became veto-proof after GOP gains last November.
Davis said last fall that he supported “what the law is in North Carolina right away,” which was a 20-week limit. Davis has declined to comment on the bill, but House Speaker Tim Moore said recently that Davis is a “yes” vote for an override.