Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
Tuesday, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly produced enough votes to nullify Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a proposed 12-week abortion ban, allowing the legislation to protect the lives of the unborn to be enacted.
The North Carolina vote will rank among the swiftest replies to a gubernatorial veto in American history. Cooper, who took the unusual step of vetoing Senate Bill 20 at an outdoor public rally, sent the bill back to the assembly only three days ago.
The bill, which is officially called the Care for Women, Children and Families Act, will take effect July 1.
It bans most abortions after 12 weeks, restricts medicinally induced abortions to 10 weeks, requires those abortions that can be carried out after 12 weeks to occur at a hospital, and adds new licensing requirements for hospitals that perform abortion; but it also contains many millions of dollars in funding for contraceptives, childcare, foster care, and parental leave.
“I am glad to see Republicans in the NC House and Senate stand strong and override the Governor’s veto,” Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is seeking to replace Cooper in 2024, said in a statement. “While North Carolina Democrats continue to lie about [the bill], Republicans have taken a stand to create a culture of life in North Carolina.
“While protecting the lives of the unborn, the bill provides over $160 million in funding for childcare, foster care, parental leave, and so many other valuable services for the people of our state.”
Lieutenant Governor Robinson’s statement on the override veto vote of the “Care for Women, Children, and Families Act.” #ncpol pic.twitter.com/Fw5ZLd1krQ
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) May 17, 2023
Cooper lashed out at a select group of Republicans who he said had promised to be pro-abortion during their election bids.
“Strong majorities of North Carolinians don’t want right-wing politicians in the exam room with women and their doctors, which is even more understandable today after several Republican lawmakers broke their promises to protect women’s reproductive freedom,” Cooper said in a statement. “For the last two weeks, Republican sponsors of this abortion ban have strenuously argued that it is much less restrictive than we warned, so we will now do everything in our power to make sure that’s true.”
Democrats and pro-abortion groups had launched a massive pressure campaign in a last-ditch hope to get a Republican to cross the aisle.
The left needed just one conservative defector to preserve Cooper’s veto. But all Republicans, including State Rep. Tricia Cotham – who was elected as a Democrat on promises to support abortion access but recently switched parties – voted for the override.
In a statement, Cotham described the new law as “a middle ground that anyone not holding one of the two extremist positions can support.”