North Carolina Legislature approves 12-week abortion ban

The North Carolina Senate on Thursday approved a 12-week ban on abortion, setting up a likely veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper after the House approved the measure on Wednesday.

The upper chamber voted 29-20 to approve the ban, the New York Times reported. The Old North State currently bars abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Cooper has called the measure "extreme" and is likely to veto the measure, which will be a test of the Republicans' newfound supermajorities should they seek to override it.

The GOP scored a supermajority in the legislature in April after Democratic Rep. Tricia Cotham announced her defection in early April. The party already held a supermajority in the Senate. 

North Carolina's prospective 12-week ban marks the latest effort by Republicans to restrict access to the procedure in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision last year that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.

Numerous southern states have enacted near-total bans on abortion in recent months, with Florida passing a six-week ban in mid-April. North Carolina, with its comparatively permissive 20-week restrictions had become a popular destination for southern women seeking abortions, the Times reported. A 12-week ban, should it become law, would still rank among the more permissive regulations in the region.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.