Topline
Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) vetoed a bill Saturday that would have banned abortions in the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy, following its approval by the General Assembly earlier this month, testing North Carolina’s GOP-led legislature after some Republicans suggested said they would protect abortion rights.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill banning abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy Saturday.
Key Facts
Cooper, who vetoed the bill during an abortions rights rally in Raleigh, said his veto would be upheld “if just one Republican” in the state’s legislature “keeps a campaign promise to protect women’s reproductive health,” according to the Associated Press.
Cooper called on four Republican legislators—state Reps. Ted Davis, John Bradford and Tricia Cotham, and Sen. Michael Lee—to vote against overriding his veto, indicating they “made campaign promises” supporting abortion rights.
Cotham—who created a supermajority for Republicans after she left the Democratic Party in April—supported a bill in January expanding access to abortions and previously suggested she wanted to codify Roe v. Wade into state law, though she voted in favor of the 12-week abortion ban.
Davis indicated in October he would “support what the law is right now,” which prohibits abortions in the state after 20 weeks, and was absent during a vote for the 12-week ban.
In an interview with Axios in October, Bradford suggested he had “no intentions” of making the state’s 20-week ban “more restrictive,” though he did vote in favor of the 12-week ban.
Lee wrote in an op-ed that he was “against bans in the first trimester,” though he added “second- and third-trimester abortions” are “abhorrent and should be restricted.”
Chief Critic
Sen. Phil Berger, the body’s Republican leader, accused Cooper of “feeding the public lies” and “bullying” Republicans to sustain his veto, adding he will “look forward to promptly overriding his veto.”
Crucial Quote
Cooper said during the rally, “This bill has nothing to do with making women safer, and everything to do with banning abortion.”
Key Background
Cooper, who has served as North Carolina’s Democratic governor since 2017, has been adamant about protecting abortion rights in the state in recent years. The state bans access to abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, though state Republicans argued a 12-week ban would be a compromise compared to other states passing bans after six weeks, according to the New York Times. Cooper previously condemned the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, indicating “it’s now up to the states to determine whether women get reproductive health care.” After the Supreme Court’s ruling, North Carolina reported 4,730 more out-of-state abortions over a six-month period, according to an April report by the Society of Family Planning. Some states have recently passed bills banning abortions after six weeks, including Florida in April.
Further Reading
North Carolina Democrat Flips To Republican Party—Grants State GOP A Supermajority (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/05/13/abortion-ban-divides-north-carolina-gov-cooper-vetoes-limits–gop-legislature-pressed-to-override/