History
In 1967, a group of North Carolina-based researchers published estimates for the number of abortions performed in the United States; using data from North Carolina, they estimated that 699,000 induced abortions had been performed in 1955 and that the annual number had risen to 829,000 in 1967. [12]
Thousands of women came from out of state in 2015 to get abortions in North Carolina and Georgia. 14.5% of all abortions in Georgia that year were for out-of-state residents, while 7.5% of all abortions performed in North Carolina were performed for out-of-state residents. This contrasted to neighboring South Carolina, where only 5.9% of abortions performed in the state involved out-of-state residents. [13]
Legislative history
By the end of the 1800s, all states in the Union except Louisiana had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions. [14] In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens. [14] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon made reforms to their abortion laws, with most of these states providing more detailed medical guidance on when therapeutic abortions could be performed. [14]
In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions in addition to abortion clinics. [15] Nebraska and North Carolina had laws prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks. [16] This law was still in place in mid-2019. [17]
On May 3, 2023, a proposed 12 week abortion ban was rushed through the state legislature in less than 24 hours. Representative Tricia Cotham helped the measure to pass, abruptly switching positions after campaigning on abortion rights in 2022. [18] After Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the 12 week ban on May 13, the North Carolina state legislature overrode the governor's veto and passed a 12-week abortion ban on May 16, 2023. [19]
Judicial history
The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. [14] However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , No. 19-1392 , 597 U.S. ___(2022) later in 2022. [20] [21] U.S. District Judge William Osteen formally struck down North Carolina's 'life of the mother only' 20-week abortion ban in March 2019. His judgement pushed the date of which abortions could be performed to the date of viability, which is later for many women. [22] [23] A 2022 ruling reinstated the 20-week abortion ban. [24]
On July 26, 2024, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued a permanent injunction to the 2023 abortion law in the law requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills, but restored enforcement of another provision in the law that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals. The ruling means most of the changes to North Carolina's abortion laws since the end of Roe v. Wade remain in place. [5]
Clinic history
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by 28, going from 114 in 1982 to 86 in 1992. [25] In the period between 1992 and 1996, the state ranked second in the loss of number of abortion clinics, losing 27 to have a total of 59 in 1996. [26] In 2014, there were 27 facilities that provided abortions, of which sixteen were abortion clinics. [27] [28] In 2014, 90% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 53% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. [29] In 2017, there were 26 total abortion-providing facilities (with 14 total clinics including 9 Planned Parenthood clinics, of which 5 offered abortion services) in a state with a population of 2,335,631 women aged 15–49. [30] [31] Not all people who seek abortions in North Carolina are residents of the state, as clinics in cities near the borders attract people seeking abortions from other states. [13]
