Source: Cardinal & Pine
The North Carolina General Assembly’s short session officially began on April 24, with big budget ticket issues at the top of mind.
Following their 2023 session that loosened gun laws, stripped away investments from public schools to the voucher program and weakened the governor, the Republican-led legislature has already considered several controversial bills in just the past few weeks.
Abortion rights and IVF are two additional issues that are expected to be considered during the short session. As red states and legislatures across the country push forth restrictions, North Carolina Republicans have signaled that they would follow suit.
“The speaker (Republican House Speaker Tim Moore) was very, very clear that they intended to further restrict abortion,” stated North Carolina House Democratic leader Robert Reives, during an interview with Cardinal & Pine. “Their belief is just—as has been stated by [Robinson]—that we should have a complete and total ban on abortion, then that needs to be done this session. Because I don’t think that you should falsely make people believe that somehow your stance has changed and then walk into January 2025 and institute a total ban”.
“It would be disingenuous to our voters not to make clear what the belief and stance is about where we should go on abortion,” added Reives.
Last year, the GOP-controlled state legislature overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto to enforce a 12-week abortion ban, down from 20 weeks. Despite the devastating impact of Senate Bill 20, Republican leaders have alluded to increasing their efforts to erase reproductive rights.
Republican House Speaker Moore personally supports a 6-week ban, and NC Senate leader Phil Berger predicted that if more Republicans win seats this year, new legislation in 2025 could “push it further., while Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has explicitly told supporters that “once a woman is pregnant, her body is no longer her own.”
