May 13 (UPI) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Saturday vetoed a 12-week abortion ban passed by the state Legislature despite the likelihood his move will be overridden.
The Democratic governor blasted Senate Bill 20 in his veto message, calling it a “dangerous abortion ban” that would have “devastating impacts on women’s reproductive health care in North Carolina.”
“This bill will create dangerous interference with the doctor-patient relationship, leading to harm for pregnant women and their families,” Cooper said. “With its medically unnecessary obstacles and restrictions, it will make abortion unavailable to many women, particularly those with lower incomes, those who live in rural areas, and those who already have limited access to health care.”
Among its provisions, SB 20 would reduce the cutoff for many abortions from 20 weeks to 12 and place new restrictions on women seeking abortions as well as the clinics seeking to provide them, including a requirement of three in-person appointments scheduled days apart for anyone seeking a medical abortion.
Cooper signed the veto at a rally in downtown Raleigh, N.C., as pro-choice supporters cheered his actions.
“We now have a vetoed bill,” he proclaimed after wielding the veto stamp.
The bill was passed by Republican supermajorities in the North Carolina House of Representatives late Wednesday and in the state Senate on Thursday. Those supermajorities make it likely GOP lawmakers will have the votes to override Cooper’s veto.
The measure passed just 48 hours after the House bill was introduced on Tuesday, with all Senate GOP members unified in support, while every Democrat voted to reject it.
SB 20’s conservative backers held a competing rally Saturday in Raleigh near the state legislative building.
“Gov. Cooper chose Mother’s Day weekend to veto legislation and rally against everything that encompasses motherhood — birth, growing biological and adoptive families, and care for babies,” North Carolina Values Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said in a statement.
“His actions would crush provisions to give women more opportunities to choose life, improve safety standards of clinics, and stop the barbaric painful practice of partial birth abortion.”
The White House issued a statement Thursday in response to SB 20, calling the measure “extreme” and suggested the administration might seek recourse through the federal courts.
The North Carolina Medical Society also assailed the bill, arguing it “interferes in the doctor-patient relationship” and would ultimately “impede patient access to medical care.”
