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Two North Carolina Democrats who could threaten abortion access (Opinion)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-north-carolina-democrats-could-145044438.htmlAbortion advocates had a tough 2022. Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer, and southern states like Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama banned abortion entirely. Georgia and South Carolina banned abortions after six weeks (although South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled against that law last week). For some people, North Carolina’s handful of abortion clinics are the only option.
2023 could be just as perilous. The North Carolina House of Representatives is one seat from a Republican supermajority, which means the GOP just needs to flip a single vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power. Republicans have that supermajority in the N.C. Senate, as well as a majority on the NC Supreme Court and the NC Appellate Court after the 2022 midterms.
For Democrats, that means every vote matters — especially when it comes to abortion. But it’s wrong to assume that all Democrats are on board with abortion rights.
Since 2019 in North Carolina, there have been two abortion bills — 2019’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and 2021’s Human Life Nondiscrimination Act — that have made it all the way to the governor’s desk, where they were promptly vetoed. When the 2019 bill initally passed, two Democratic senators and four Democratic representatives sided with Republicans. In 2021, six Democratic state representatives voted for the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act.
2023 could be just as perilous. The North Carolina House of Representatives is one seat from a Republican supermajority, which means the GOP just needs to flip a single vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power. Republicans have that supermajority in the N.C. Senate, as well as a majority on the NC Supreme Court and the NC Appellate Court after the 2022 midterms.
For Democrats, that means every vote matters — especially when it comes to abortion. But it’s wrong to assume that all Democrats are on board with abortion rights.
Since 2019 in North Carolina, there have been two abortion bills — 2019’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and 2021’s Human Life Nondiscrimination Act — that have made it all the way to the governor’s desk, where they were promptly vetoed. When the 2019 bill initally passed, two Democratic senators and four Democratic representatives sided with Republicans. In 2021, six Democratic state representatives voted for the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act.
Only three of those six Democrat won re-election in 2022 — Reps. Garland Pierce, Amos Quick, and Michael Wray. Of these three, multiple sources within the General Assembly told me that Pierce and Wray are two to keep an eye on with future abortion bills. (Quick’s name did not come up).