Hearing scheduled on Planned Parenthood request to block NC abortion ban

North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban will see its first day in court next week — almost two weeks after a lawsuit challenging the law was filed.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a North Carolina OB-GYN filed a lawsuit against the state’s abortion law June 16. The law, which restricts abortion access after 12 weeks in most cases, is slated to go into effect July 1.

Now, the lawsuit will be heard in a federal court in Greensboro on June 28 by presiding District Judge Catherine Eagles, where she will consider issuing a temporary restraining order, which would block the law from taking effect. It’s the first hearing in what is expected to be a prolonged court battle over the future of abortion access in the state.

The lawsuit requested the court overturn various provisions, such as inconsistencies about when a physician can perform a medical abortion — at 10 weeks or 12 weeks. The plaintiffs also raised issues with the bill’s 72-hour waiting period and what it called an “unconstitutional hospitalization requirement” for sexual assault or incest survivors to go to a hospital for an abortion after the 12-week period.

Violations of the First Amendment were another point cited in the lawsuit, as physicians are seemingly barred from discussing out-of-state abortion options with patients.

Seeking to remedy some of the same issues brought forward in the lawsuit, the N.C. Senate suddenly proposed an amendment to the abortion law Thursday. Among other changes, it would make the limits on medication abortion consistent at 12 weeks. Democrats said they were given little notice on the move, which left not much time to review the amendment’s content.

Senate Bill 20, N.C’s 12-week abortion law, moved through both legislative chambers within 48 hours of the bill being introduced in May. The Republicans’ supermajority, ushered in by Mecklenburg County Rep. Trisha Cotham’s party switch, secured the vote to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.

This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 2:40 PM.

Makiya Seminera

The News & Observer

Makiya Seminera is a politics reporting intern and a University of Florida graduate. She reported on politics last summer at The State in Columbia, South Carolina, primarily covering abortion. She also served as editor-in-chief of UF’s student-run newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator last fall.