IRON FIST

North Carolina 12-Week Abortion Ban Now in Effect

The restrictive law, which goes further than the state’s previous 20-week ban, is going into effect despite a Planned Parenthood challenge.

North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban is going into effect as of Saturday, which brings the limit for the state down from 20 weeks, just over a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Planned Parenthood and Dr. Beverly Gray, an abortion provider, had challenged the 12-week ban and requested a restraining order on the measure. A judge issued a ruling Friday allowing the measure to go into effect, however. The judge blocked a portion of the ban that would have required physicians prescribing medication abortions to document the pregnancy in medical records. In response to the legal challenge, the Republican-controlled legislature passed measures that changed or repealed almost all of the challenged portions of the law.