North Carolina abortion bill, whizzing through legislature, headed for state Senate vote
North Carolina Republicans’ proposal for a new 12-week abortion ban zoomed through the state legislature Wednesday, passing the state House less than 24 hours after being introduced.
The whirlwind bill passed the chamber along party lines, in a 71-46 vote, and is scheduled to go before the Senate on Thursday.
The passage was aided by a vote from Rep. Tricia Cotham, representing another staggering reversal for the Mecklenburg Republican. It could also foreshadow the chances of the bill’s success in the face of an expected veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Cotham, a longtime Democrat and abortion rights supporter who represents a left-leaning district near Charlotte, joined the GOP last month after saying she had become disillusioned with the Democratic Party. The switch gave the GOP the final seat it needed to have a veto-proof majority in both chambers of the legislature; Republicans already had a supermajority in the Senate.
Cotham won election in 2022 by campaigning for abortion rights. Just a few months ago, she co-sponsored a bill to expand abortion access in North Carolina by codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade into state law. Roe had allowed abortions up until a fetus could be viable outside the womb — which varies from each pregnancy but is typically 24 to 26 weeks. It's unclear why she has now reversed her stance by voting to cut, not expand, abortion access in North Carolina. She didn’t speak up about the bill, or her reasons for supporting it, on Wednesday.
Cooper said Wednesday that he would veto the bill if it lands on his desk, saying in a written statement that it would "ban access to reproductive freedom earlier and sometimes altogether for many women because of new restrictions and requirements."
As the bill was about to pass the entire Democratic caucus stood, yelling out in unison to join a rare type of formal protest, spelled out in the state Constitution to dissent against acts “injurious to the public.” The protest was initiated by Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake.
The speed at which the bill moved was central to its success in the chamber — and its opposition.
Bills typically have to pass a number of committees in both the House and Senate before getting a vote in each chamber. But that’s not the case this time. The abortion bill’s Republican backers used a procedural move to avoid the typical process, which can take weeks and involves numerous opportunities for public comment.
Passing it quickly lets Republicans avoid days of protests at the legislature, like the one Wednesday that drew hundreds of opponents in the middle of the afternoon.
‘Most important bill … this year’
During a floor debate late Wednesday, Rep. Kristen Baker, R-Cabarrus, described women with unwanted pregnancies as understandably scared. She said she hopes the new restrictions on abortions — as well as funding in the bill for adoptions, child care subsidies and more — will lead to fewer abortions in the future.
“This bill provides the pregnant woman with a broad range of resources and an extensive knowledge base, to equip her as she begins this very difficult process,” she said.
Democrats argued that their Republican colleagues were playing politics with North Carolinians’ health care.
“We want our doctors to only think about us, only our health, our lives,” said Rep. Ya Liu, D-Wake, who told personal stories about her own high-risk pregnancies during Wednesday’s debate. “Not politicians, not lawyers, not courts. We want doctors who care for us without fears of potential prosecution. Every moment during pregnancy can be life or death.”
Democrats called the Republicans’ process undemocratic, saying such a massive change to state law should happen more slowly, with opportunities for public debate or amendments to the bill. They said fast-tracking the bill deprived the general public, and many state lawmakers, the chance to ask questions about the bill or suggest changes. Indeed, the 46-page bill was filed less than 12 hours before its first hearing.
“A process that has us voting on what will be the most important bill we vote on this year — and for a lot of us, for the time we serve in this building — to be decided in 24 hours, is unthinkable,” said Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, the top House Democrat, Wednesday night.
He added: “Democracies don’t die, especially in this day and age, in one fell swoop or revolution. That’s not how it goes. It’s little cuts. Little things that we accept because it’s forwarding something we want.”
Early Wednesday, the bill cleared its only opportunity for members of the public to comment on the bill, a rare joint meeting of the House and Senate rules committees. After, hundreds of pro-abortion-rights protesters gathered across the street from the legislature along with top Democratic officials. They later made their way into the legislature, filling the gallery overlooking the House floor, where the chamber took up the bill.
Republican lawmakers appeared to attempt to wait them out; the House session had been scheduled to start at 3 p.m. but lawmakers debated dozens of other bills first, not taking up the abortion bill until after 8:45 p.m.
“I think that’s in hopes that people go home because we’re tired and we haven’t eaten,” said Ashley Hamilton, a 36-year-old who traveled in from Burlington for the vote and was one of few protesters to stick around through the night. “I think that’s deliberate.”
When the House took a dinner break at 6:30 p.m., protesters in the gallery began chanting “abortion rights now.” Some were also warned about outbursts earlier in the evening, during debate on a bill that would ban doctors from performing gender-affirming surgeries on transgender people under 18.
‘Save many lives’
When Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, North Carolina’s abortion cutoff immediately dropped from roughly 26 to 20 weeks. This bill would cut another two months, dropping it to 12 weeks for most types of abortions.
Jerry Schill, a long-time antiabortion activist with the God and Country Christian Alliance, told lawmakers Wednesday during the committee hearing that he would've preferred to see them ban abortion entirely. "However, whatever we can do to save more babies is what we need to do," he said.
Some critics contend the bill basically is the total ban on abortion that antiabortion activists want. In that camp is Attorney General Josh Stein, the likely Democratic nominee for governor in 2024.
“The bill is a dramatic restriction,” Stein said in an interview at the downtown protest Wednesday. “If not a total ban, it’s an effective ban on abortion here in North Carolina. And that’s a devastating step backwards for people who want to make these decisions for themselves.”
The bill also contains a number of provisions cracking down on where and how women can get abortions, and how many steps they must take prior to making the decision — including multiple in-person meetings with a doctor. There's also more state funding for adoption services, maternal health programs and religious charities that run antiabortion clinics called crisis pregnancy centers.
“We have the opportunity to save many lives,” Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, a lead sponsor of the bill, said Tuesday when she introduced the bill. “We have the opportunity to provide women and families options that they haven't had before.”
There would be limited exceptions to the 12-week ban, including a 20-week cutoff for victims of rape or incest, a 24-week cutoff for fetal abnormalities, and no limit on abortions to save the life of the mother.
There's also a question of whether the bill will also essentially ban abortion clinics from operating in North Carolina.
Jenny Black, chief executive of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said during Wednesday's protest that the new rules for clinics are so strict, none of North Carolina's Planned Parenthood clinics meet them.
Republican lawmakers said the stricter rules are needed to protect women's health when getting an abortion, but Black and other critics said the stricter rules are motivated purely by politics, not real health concerns.
Sen. Dan Blue, D-Raleigh, the top Senate Democrat, said most female lawmakers were completely cut out of the process of writing the bill, since it was written in secret by GOP leaders and now can't be amended.
"There are 17 women in the North Carolina Senate, and 13 of them are Democratic women," he said. "... I just want you all to reflect on the absurdity."
Multiple doctors attended Wednesday's committee hearing to speak on the bill, along with other members of the public.
"These restrictions are, in fact, governmental overreach into the practice of medicine," said Jennifer Beckham, an OB-GYN doctor who opposes the bill. "We went to medical school and completed years of training to do our jobs, caring for our patients. Please let us do our jobs."
Another OB-GYN doctor, Susan Bane, said she supported the new restrictions.
"We have had essentially 50 years of unfettered access to abortion in the United States," Bane said. "Yet our most recent maternal mortality statistics place the United States as the worst in the developed world. Abortion does not improve maternal mortality."
The bill contains no penalties for women who get an abortion outside the time frame. Doctors who provide one, however, could face a $5,000 fine and the possibility of losing their license.
Rep. Ashton Clemmons, D-Guilford, said she couldn't help but think about her daughters, and what would happen to them if they were raped but were too scared to immediately come forward. Or what would happen if they did want a baby, she said — but their pregnancy had complications, and instead of the doctors working immediately to help save her life with an abortion, "they're pulling out their law book or calling their attorney."
‘Not what we had prayed for’
Many Republicans wanted to go further than 12 weeks and fully ban abortion, as other GOP-led states have done.
"This bill is not what we had hoped for," John Rustin, who leads the Christian conservative NC Family Policy Council, told lawmakers Wednesday. "It's not what we had prayed for."
But, Rustin added, his group still supports the bill even if it doesn't go as far as they want it to: "It will save thousands of lives every year."
Tuesday night, when they announced this bill, GOP leaders acknowledged that the stricter abortion bans many of their voters want aren't a politically popular stance. North Carolina is expected to again be a key swing state in the 2024 elections.
"It truly is mainstream," Krawiec said of a 12-week ban at Wednesday's committee hearing.
A WRAL News poll last year — when Roe v. Wade and its 26-week cutoff was still law — found that 45% of North Carolina voters wanted to keep those rules in place or even loosen restrictions. Another 39% wanted the rules to be stricter, and 16% said they had no opinion.
Critics say Republicans know the bill is unpopular, which is why they wrote it in secret and are now trying to pass it in just two days, rather than the normal weeks-long process.
"This is why Republicans are ramming it through with no chance to amend," Cooper said.
Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, dismissed complaints about the process. Democrats never would've been willing to work with Republicans on an abortion bill, she said, so there was no real reason for Republicans to try getting their input. She taunted them at Wednesday’s committee hearing by invoking the new GOP supermajority in both chambers.
"I reject the fact that your voices haven't been heard," Sawyer told her Democratic colleagues. "We heard them during the election, we heard them today, and we'll continue to hear them when we override the veto."
Possibly complicating a veto override, however, is Republican Rep. Ted Davis whose Wilmington-area district is one of the most competitive in the state. Davis was at the legislature for other votes Wednesday. But he skipped the vote on the abortion bill, leaving it with 71 votes in favor. A veto override in the House requires 72 votes, if every lawmaker is present for it.
Also absent for the vote Wednesday were two Democrats, Rep. Amber Baker and Rep. Marvin Lucas.
WRAL reporters Travis Fain and Ali Ingersoll contributed reporting.
