Tighter abortion restrictions go into effect Saturday, July 1, in North Carolina, limiting legal abortion in most cases to 12 weeks of pregnancy down from 20 weeks.
The new Republican-backed restrictions have undergone legal challenges and language adjustments over the past several. One section was even put on hold Friday while a federal court hears a legal challenge to the new law.
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Here's what goes into effect Saturday, plus effective dates for other key provisions of the new law:
Previous law
After the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, North Carolina law banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions after that in the case of medical emergencies. The law required a conversation with a doctor about the potential risks and other information, including state aid available if the child was born, at least 72 hours before the abortion was performed. That conversation was allowed to happen by phone.
Going into effect Saturday
12-week ban: The new law allows abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy for whatever reason. The new law allows some abortions after the new 12-week cutoff, but the rules vary.
- In cases of rape or incest, abortion would be allowed through 20 weeks of pregnancy.
- If the fetus has a “life-limiting anomaly” abortion would be legal through 24 weeks.
- Abortion would stay legal at any time if a doctor declares a medical emergency.
North Carolina law before July 1 allowed abortions after 20 weeks in the case of medical emergencies.
In-person meeting: The new law requires the 72-hour conversation to be in person, which critics said would make it more difficult to get an abortion, particularly for women who have trouble getting off work, have other children to care for, live far from a clinic or wish to travel from out of state for an abortion. The law also adds multiple new attestations a woman must sign before the abortion, including in the case of a drug-induced abortion, acknowledgment that she has the right to see the remains of her unborn child.
Three visits: A drug-induced abortion requires at least two visits under the new law. The first comes at least 72 hours before the abortion is scheduled for the doctor to go over various informed consent requirements. A second is for the doctor to administer the first dose of the drug, which must be done in person. A second dose would not require a doctor’s presence, sponsors said. However, the doctor’s office is required to to schedule a another visit seven to 14 days after a drug is administered to confirm that the pregnancy is terminated and to assess bleeding. The law says the doctor “shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the woman returns” for that appointment. The multiple visits will make abortions more difficult for women who can’t easily take time off work or women traveling from a state with more restrictive abortion laws to get an abortion in North Carolina, opponents said.
Medical records: The new law requires information about the patient and any abortion or forced miscarriage after 12 weeks to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services. The physician must also report their findings as to which qualification (medical emergency, life-limiting anomaly, rape or incest) necessitated the abortion. Such information is to be used for statistical records only.
New clinic rules: The law calls for new standards and licensing requirements for abortion clinics and indicates those requirements would be written in the future by the N.C. Medical Care Commission, which is appointed by the governor. The law says those rules couldn't be more stringent than the ones set for ambulatory surgery centers. A lobbyist for Planned Parenthood told lawmakers in May that none of her group's facilities in the state meet those requirements now and that the law aims “to shut down abortion clinics.”
Penalties: The new law doesn’t include criminal penalties for women who get an abortion outside the allowed time frames, but doctors who provide an abortion could face a $5,000 fine and the possibility of losing their license. The law also creates a new class-D felony and $250,000 fine for any physician who doesn’t provide care for babies who survive a botched abortion.
Penalties for mailing drugs: Any person or organization caught sending abortion-inducing drugs directly to a woman could face a $5,000 fine per violation. Illegally advertising these drugs would also bring a $5,000 fine.
Down syndrome: The new law has anti-eugenics language, saying it’s illegal to perform an abortion at any point in the pregnancy if a doctor knows the woman seeking the abortion wants it “in whole or in part” because of the unborn child’s race, sex or the “presumed presence of Down syndrome.” This adds to an existing ban on abortions based on the unborn child’s sex.
Parental leave: The law promises state employees up to eight weeks of paid leave after giving birth and up to four weeks after becoming a parent, including by adoption. Cooper already provided, via a 2019 executive order, for paid leave for many state employees. This would expand the benefit to more employees and write it into state law. The law has $20 million in it to cover leave costs.
Money: Including the paid leave funding, Republican lawmakers said they put $180 million in pro-family funding into the law. That includes $75 million to expand access to child care, more than $16 million to reduce infant and maternal mortality, close to $59 million for foster care, kinship care and children’s homes, $7 million to help people without insurance pay for birth control and $3 million over the next two years for community college tuition grants.
Going into effect later this year
Hospitals only after 12 weeks: Any abortions performed after the first trimester of a pregnancy must be performed in a hospital under the new law. Planned Parenthood noted that hospital visits mean extra costs, which anyone who gets an abortion after 12 weeks would incur, a potential roadblock for low-income patients. This provision starts Oct. 1.
Domestic violence and guns: The law creates a new misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, which is meant to close a loophole in existing law that allows people convicted of various domestic violence crimes to still pass a background check when they buy a gun. The federal background check system doesn’t flag these crimes because of the way North Carolina’s current law reads and a federal court ruling from several years ago. This provision goes into effect Dec. 1.
Other penalties: The law also increases the criminal punishment for assault on a pregnant woman. And the current 10-year GPS monitoring requirement for many repeat and violent sex offenders would increase to lifetime monitoring. This provision goes into effect Dec. 1.
Provisions on hold
Documentation: A U.S. District Court judge placed Friday a temporary restraining order — lasting two weeks — on a requirement that physicians document the existence of an "intrauterine pregnancy," saying opponents of the measure are likely to succeed in their claim that the documentation is unconstitutionally vague. "If the pregnancy is in early stages and the physician cannot document the existence of an intrauterine pregnancy, then the physician cannot comply with this requirement," Judge Catherine Eagles said. "Elsewhere, the Act broadly allows abortions during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy."