North Carolina legislature enacts 12-week abortion ban, overriding governor's veto

North Carolina's Republican-led legislature voted along party lines Tuesday to override Gov. Roy Cooper's (D) veto of a 12-week abortion ban. The new restrictions will now take effect July 1.

Cooper vetoed the bill over the weekend after spending the previous week campaigning against it, trying to peel off at least one Republican to defeat the override. "How about we leave medicine to the doctors and the decisions to the women," he suggested after signing his veto. All four Republicans he targeted voted for the ban, including Rep. Tricia Cotham (R), a former pro-choice Democrat who switched parties in April, giving Republicans the supermajority they needed in both chambers to override Cooper's veto.

The new abortion ban includes rape and incest exceptions through 20 weeks of pregnancy, an exemption for some fetal abnormalities through 24 weeks, and no limit for when a pregnant woman's life is in danger. The override will further limit abortion access in the South, where South Carolina will be the only state that allows abortion past 12 weeks.

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