After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

North Carolina

North Carolina is enforcing a twelve-week abortion ban, including additional burdensome restrictions, which took effect July 1, 2023.  Although the current governor is supportive of abortion rights, the legislature is hostile to abortion.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 12-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 20-week LMP
  • Medication Abortion, Telemedicine Ban
  • Pre-Roe ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

North Carolina law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion but protects clinic access by prohibiting obstruction.1 On July 6, 2022, Governor Roy Cooper issued an executive order that prohibits the governor’s office and cabinet agencies from providing assistance or cooperation with out-of-state investigations and legal actions (including extradition) that arise from the provision of reproductive health care that is legal in North Carolina.2 Cabinet employees who are pregnant may not be required to travel to states that have limited reproductive health care services.3 On January 16, 2025, Governor Josh Stein issued an executive order that reaffirms these protections, directs the North Carolina Department of Health to ensure access to medication abortion and contraception, and safeguards reproductive health care data collected by the state.4

Restrictions

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, North Carolina enacted a twelve-week abortion ban, which took effect July 1, 2023.5 The state’s twenty-week gestational ban is currently in effect.6 North Carolina prohibits D&X procedures and abortions sought because of sex, race, and Down syndrome.7 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory seventy-two-hour waiting period and in-person biased counseling.8 North Carolina also limits public funding for abortion, but lawful abortion may be covered by Medicaid.9 North Carolina law generally requires that a parent, legal guardian,10 or judge11 consent to a minor’s abortion.

North Carolina’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities12 and reporting.13 Beginning October 1, 2023, abortion care provided under an exception to the twelve-week ban must be provided in a hospital.14 North Carolina law restricts the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians,15 prohibits the mailing of medication abortion,16 and requires providers to administer medication abortion in-person.17 The state requires a follow-up visit within 14 days after medication abortion.18 Providers who violate North Carolina’s abortion restrictions may face criminal and civil penalties. 19 The state funds anti-abortion centers, providing them with millions of dollars a year.20

Post-Roe Prohibitions

North Carolina has a pre-Roe ban, which is enjoined to the extent that it prevents abortion prior to viability.21

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, North Carolina is enforcing a twelve-week abortion ban, including additional burdensome restrictions, which took effect on July 1, 2023.  Although recent governors have issued executive orders in support of certain protections related to abortion rights, the current legislature is hostile to abortion.

 

  1. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-277.4; N.C. Exec. Order, No. 263 (Jul. 6, 2022), https://governor.nc.gov/media/3298. ↩︎
  2. N.C. Exec. Order, No. 263 (Jul. 6, 2022), https://governor.nc.gov/media/3298. ↩︎
  3. N.C. Exec. Order, No. 263 (Jul. 6, 2022), https://governor.nc.gov/media/3298. ↩︎
  4. N.C. Exec. Order, No. 8 (Jan. 16, 2025) https://governor.nc.gov/executive-order-no-8-reproductive-rights. ↩︎
  5. S.B. 20, 2023 Leg., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2023), codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. u00a7 90-21.81B(2). ↩︎
  6. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B(2). ↩︎
  7. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90‑21.121(a). The ban includes a twenty-week exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, a twenty-four-week exception if a physician determines that there exists a life-limiting abnormality, or at any point in the pregnancy for medical emergencies. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B(3); § 90-21.81B(4); § 90-21.81D. ↩︎
  8. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.82; id. § 90-21.85 (ultrasound requirement invalidated by Stuart v. Camnitz, 774 F.3d 238 (4th Cir. 2014), cert denied, 135 S. Ct. 2838 (June 15, 2015)); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B(2). ↩︎
  9. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143C-6-5.5; 10A N.C. Admin. Code 25P. 0405.05. ↩︎
  10. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.7(a). ↩︎
  11. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.7(b); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.8. ↩︎
  12. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90‑21.81C(b)-(c), (g); § 90‑21.93. ↩︎
  13. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 131E‑153.2. ↩︎
  14. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.8,  preliminary injunction granted as to the hospitalization requirement in Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. Stein et al., 680 F. Supp. 3d 595 (M.D.N.C. June 30, 2023), injunction lifted in Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. Stein et. al., 742 F. Supp. 3d 472 (M.D.N.C. July 26, 2024). ↩︎
  15. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B; N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81(7d) (defining a qualified physician as “any of the following: (i) a physician who possesses, or is eligible to possess, board certification in obstetrics or gynecology, (ii) a physician who possesses sufficient training based on established medical standards in safe abortion care, abortion complications, and miscarriage management, or (iii) a physician who performs an abortion in a medical emergency as defined by this Article.”). ↩︎
  16. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B(2). ↩︎
  17. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-21.81B; § 90‑21.83A(b)(2)a; § 14-441. ↩︎
  18. N.C. Gen. Stat. § § 90‑21.83B(b). ↩︎
  19. See, e.g., N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-44, 14-44.1, 14-45. ↩︎
  20. H.B. 259 § 9H.11(a), 156th Leg., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2023). ↩︎
  21. N.C. Gen. Stat.  § 14-44; see Bryant v. Woodall, 363 F. Supp. 3d at 611, 615 (M.D.N.C. Mar. 25, 2019). ↩︎