Women have suffered through ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, fetal anomalies, and other complications, but have found it difficult to get the care they need due to restrictive abortion bans.
"North Carolinians now understand that Republicans are unified in their assault on women’s reproductive freedom and we are energized to fight back," Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.
Republicans’ new 12-week abortion ban will impose unnecessary barriers to care, increase maternal death rates, and further strain the state’s health care system by forcing clinics to close, North Carolina doctors say.
In a guest post, a group of 8 UNC doctors, professors, and researchers highlight the dangerous impact of North Carolina Republicans' new 12-week abortion ban. "The legislation imposes an array of medically unnecessary hurdles ... that make it harder and more expensive for women to get early abortions," the group writes.
The bill also makes it more difficult to access care, and implements hugely restrictive regulations on abortion clinics, which could force many of them to close their doors.
All abortion bans are dangerous, a Charlotte doctor told us, so Republican legislators would not get any points for passing a 12-week ban instead of a 6-week or outright ban like in other southern states.