A ban on abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in the state of North Carolina after the state’s Republican-led General Assembly voted late Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper (D).
The North Carolina state House overrode the veto by a three-fifths majority after the Senate had voted similiarly earlier in the day.
Had just one Republican lawmaker sustained, the governor’s veto would have held.
Abortion had previously been legal in North Carolina up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Republicans pitched the 12-week ban as a middle-ground change to state law.
The lawmakers proposed their newer, harsher restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last June.
The state’s veto override come as lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska are also considering new abortion restrictions. The Carolinas had each been two of the few remaining southern states with somewhat easy access to abortion.
Most abortions are currently outright banned in 14 states, primarily in the south and midwest.
