Global Courant 2023-05-13 22:47:15
RALEIGH, NC — Before an exuberant crowd, North Carolina’s Democratic governor on Saturday vetoed legislation that would have banned nearly all abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
About 1,000 abortion activists and voters watched in a plaza in Raleigh’s capitol as Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill in an unconventional public display. The veto launches a major test for leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly to try to override a vote after recently securing veto-proof majorities in both chambers. The bill was the Republican response to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“We’re going to have to kick it into even higher gear when that veto stamp comes,” Cooper told the crowd. “If just one Republican in the House or Senate follows through on a campaign promise to protect women’s reproductive health, we can stop this ban.”
Andrea Long, a 42-year-old mother of three from Cary, said she was honored to be part of an “electric” crowd on what she called a “historic day for freedom” in North Carolina.
“I couldn’t stop crying with joy when I saw the governor hold up the veto stamp, but I know it’s an uphill battle to maintain this momentum,” Long said.
Cooper, a strong supporter of abortion rights, had until Sunday evening to take action against the measure that tightens current state law, which bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation passed along party lines in the House and Senate last week. Override voting could begin next week.
Cooper spent this week on the road talking to North Carolinians about the lesser-known implications of the bill and urging them to put pressure on key Republican lawmakers who balked at further restrictions during their campaigns for office last year.
Republicans have pitched the measure as a middle ground amendment to the state’s abortion laws developed after months of private negotiations between GOP members of the House and Senate. It adds exceptions to the 12-week ban, extending the limit to 20 weeks for rape and incest and to 24 weeks for “life-limiting” fetal abnormalities.
Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger on Saturday accused Cooper of “feeding the public lies” and “bullying” members of his party to block the legislation. “I look forward to overriding his veto as soon as possible,” he said in a statement.
Cooper has said repeatedly that the details in the 47-page bill show that the measure is not a reasonable compromise and would instead greatly erode reproductive rights. He cites new obstacles for women to have abortions, such as requiring multiple in-person visits, extra paperwork to prove a patient has given informed consent for an abortion, and increased regulation of clinics offering the procedure.
Cooper and allies have said these practice changes will close clinics that cannot afford major upgrades mandated by new licensing standards and make it nearly impossible for women who live in rural areas or work long hours to access abortion services .
Compared to recent actions by Republican-controlled lawmakers elsewhere, the broad ban after 12 weeks can be seen as less severe than in other states where the procedure has been almost completely banned. But abortion rights activists have argued that it is more restrictive than it first appears and will have far-reaching consequences. Since Roe was overturned, many patients traveling from more restrictive states have come to depend on North Carolina as a location for later-in-pregnancy abortions.
Republicans are calling the legislation pro-family and pro-child, pointing to at least $160 million spent on maternal health services, foster and adoption care, access to birth control and paid leave for teachers and government employees after the birth of a child.
Cooper has called out four GOP lawmakers — three House members and a senator — who he said have “made campaign promises to protect women’s reproductive health.” Abortion activists handed out flyers to the crowd on Saturday with their names and phone numbers. Anti-abortion groups accused Cooper of bullying them.
“The way he shows up in their districts and harasses their voters is disgusting,” said Wes Bryant, one of about 70 anti-abortion protesters who gathered across the street from Cooper’s rally for a prayer meeting.
One of the House members who selected Cooper is Representative Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County, who voted in favor of the bill just weeks after switching from the Democratic Party to the GOP. The move gave Republicans a veto-proof supermajority if all of their lawmakers are present and voting.
Cotham has spoken out in favor of abortion rights in the past, and even earlier this year he co-sponsored a bill to codify abortion protections into state law. Rep. Wilmington’s Ted Davis — another prospective lawmaker — was the only Republican absent from last week’s first House vote. The Senate margin was already vetoed after GOP gains last November.
Davis said last fall that he supported “whatever the law is now in North Carolina,” which was a 20-week limit. Davis has declined to comment on the bill, but Speaker Tim Moore of the House of Representatives recently said Davis is a “yes” vote for a repeal.
