On Roe v. Wade anniversary, NC Gov. Stein vows to veto any new abortion bills
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- GOP controls legislature but lacks supermajority, limiting immediate law changes.
- Gov. Josh Stein vows to veto further abortion limits and protect providers
- 2023 law bans abortion after 12 weeks; all legislators face 2026 elections
Good morning and welcome to our Under the Dome politics newsletter that focuses on the governor. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
North Carolina’s abortion law was an important issue in the 2024 gubernatorial election. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein defeated the Republican candidate, former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who supported stricter abortion restrictions than the current law.
Stein said then, and reiterated this week on the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, that he would not sign any legislation that would further restrict abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, instead leaving laws up to states. That led to a change in North Carolina’s law in May 2023, with a then-supermajority of Republicans overturning a veto from former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The law bans abortion after 12 weeks’ gestation, with exceptions.
In January, soon after taking office, Stein ordered state agencies not to cooperate with investigations into medical professionals who provide legal abortions.
“Last January, I signed an executive order directing state cabinet agencies to protect women and health care providers from criminal prosecutions and extreme attacks on reproductive freedom,” Stein said in a statement this past week. “Safe and reliable reproductive health care is vital for women and families across the state, and I remain committed to doing everything in my power to ensure North Carolina safeguards their fundamental freedom.”
“I will veto any further restrictions on women’s reproductive freedoms because women, not politicians, should make these most personal of decisions,” Stein said.
Republican politicians at the General Assembly have not been interested in trying to change the law again — at least, not those with the most power or a caucus majority. Republicans still control the legislature, as they did in 2023, but are one vote short of a veto-proof supermajority.
Last spring, a House Republican filed a bill that would ban abortion, but it didn’t even get a committee hearing. In April, Republican House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters that “I don’t think there’s any real desire in our caucus to hear that particular bill.”
“We just passed, less than two years ago, really landmark pro-life legislation,” Hall said at the time, “and that bill did a lot of things, and I think we need to give some more time to see how that bill is working, but I don’t anticipate doing much more on that issue this session.”
Similarly, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said in spring 2025 that “I don’t know that there’s support that we could get a bill passed and a veto overridden, so I don’t see us moving in that direction.”
State lawmakers are elected for terms that last two years, while governors’ terms last four years. Legislators are all on the 2026 ballot because their terms end this year, while Stein’s first term lasts until 2028.
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Thanks for reading. Be sure to listen to our Under the Dome weekly politics podcast, which posts on Tuesdays. We’ll be recording a new episode on Monday and sharing the latest news in #ncpol.
Reach me at dvaughan@newsobserver.com or the entire politics team at dome@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published January 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "On Roe v. Wade anniversary, NC Gov. Stein vows to veto any new abortion bills."
