In another post-Dobbs salvo, North Carolina legislators have kept their promise to tighten abortion restrictions in the Old North State. The “Care for Women, Children, and Families Act,” voted into law on Tuesday, May 16 after hours of contentious debate, repeals and replaces the existing North Carolina abortion law, which allowed abortions up to 20 weeks.
Under the new legislation, abortions will be unrestricted for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The law also allows abortions in cases of rape and incest up to 20 weeks and in cases of a “life-limiting anomaly” for the baby up to 24 weeks. In cases of “medical emergency,” statutory language that has remained unaltered from the previous law, abortion will be permitted at any time.
The bill also provides for $160 million in funding for women’s and children’s needs, from statewide parental leave policies to childcare stipends and safe surrender for children given up for adoption. As the bill’s sponsor stated during the floor debate, it is intended to be a comprehensive “pro-life plan” with the goal of making it easier for a woman to choose to keep her baby. The policies are based on statistics showing that nearly three-fourths of women considering abortions would prefer to keep their children if they did not face such daunting financial, logistical, emotional, relational, and other obstacles.
In the Senate debate to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s Mothers’ Day veto, opponents of the bill were concerned about the additional restrictions it imposes on women seeking abortions
