Without Roe v. Wade, it’s up to North Carolina to protect abortion access now

North Carolina has 100 counties. You can get an abortion in just nine of them.

In 2019, close to 23,500 people received abortions in these nine counties and 15 clinics. They chose to do so in spite of a three-day waiting period and inaccurate counseling that attempts to discourage them from following through with their decision. They choose this in spite of having to raise hundreds of dollars for the procedure.

And now, the very possibility of a safe abortion hangs in the balance.

Politico reported Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, saying the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide was “egregiously wrong from the start.”

The decision is not unexpected, and it is not final. The draft majority opinion leaked to Politico was just that: a draft. But for many, it’s proof that a nightmare is becoming reality.

For months, we’ve gotten a glimpse into what state legislatures will do when there aren’t any federal abortion protections for abortion. They’ve passed a wave of anti-abortion bills that range from mild to downright draconian, such as an Oklahoma law that outlaws abortion almost entirely, with very few exceptions.

Abortion rights in North Carolina are likely safe — for now. Our state has a Democratic governor in Roy Cooper, and there’s no Republican supermajority in the state legislature, although the latter could change with the 2022 election. A state law banning abortions after 20 weeks could be allowed to go into effect for the first time, but a total ban is unlikely.

That means North Carolina could very well be the only state in the Southeast where people will be able to safely seek reproductive health care.

Tennessee and Kentucky have “trigger laws” in place that would automatically ban abortion as soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned. Georgia and South Carolina have six-week bans on the books that will go into effect. The nine counties and 15 abortion clinics we have will no longer be serving just North Carolina. They may be serving the entire Southeast.

“Outlawing it doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it harder to get, and the people that suffer the most are the folks that are already struggling to get those procedures,” Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler, director of engagement for Carolina Abortion Fund, told the Editorial Board on Monday night. The organization has received more than 5,000 calls for assistance since the beginning of 2022.

In 2024, reproductive rights will likely be on the ballot in North Carolina once again. The state will be electing a new governor, and voraciously anti-abortion Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will almost certainly be the Republican nominee. Abortion access in North Carolina is already scarce, but the 2024 election could determine whether it vanishes altogether.

North Carolina needs to act now.

States like Colorado have already taken steps to codify abortion rights with firmly pro-choice legislation that protects access to reproductive health care statewide, regardless of what happens at the federal level. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and two top Democratic lawmakers have proposed an amendment to their state Constitution that would provide a “firewall” around abortion rights.

Republican lawmakers, many of whom have introduced vacuous pro-life legislation on more than one occasion, likely will not want this. They will probably want to pass the strictest legislation they can. But that isn’t necessarily what North Carolinians want.

North Carolina is a purple state, home to Democrats and Republicans and more than 2.5 million unaffiliated voters. Various polling has shown that abortion restrictions are hardly the political slam dunk that Republicans might think they are, and they should know that this is a fight they could very well lose. Democrats, too, should be unafraid to be forceful in their push to protect reproductive rights.

“Now more than ever, governors and state legislatures must stand up for women’s healthcare,” Gov. Roy Cooper tweeted Monday.

That should begin today.

This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 6:47 AM with the headline "Without Roe v. Wade, it’s up to North Carolina to protect abortion access now."