Updated July 21, 2022 at 2:24 p.m.
North Carolina’s Attorney General Josh Stein said Thursday his office will not take steps toward enforcing a 20-week abortion ban in the state, declining a request from Republican legislative leaders.
The ban has been on the North Carolina books since the early 1970s but courts previously blocked it from taking effect because of Roe v. Wade. After the landmark Supreme Court abortion case was overturned in June, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore wrote a letter asking Stein’s office to move to lift the injunction in Bryant v. Woodall, the case that resulted in a judge blocking the 20-week ban.
“The Department of Justice will not take action that would restrict women’s ability to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions.”— North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein
“The Department of Justice will not take action that would restrict women’s ability to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions,” Stein said in a statement Thursday.
“Protecting that ability is more important than ever, as states across the nation are banning abortions in all instances, including rape and incest.”
Republican leaders may not need Stein’s office to get the 20-week ban enforced. A spokesperson for Berger’s office previously told WFAE they could consider hiring their own lawyers and intervening in the case.
"No one should be surprised that Josh Stein is in the abortion-on-demand camp," Berger said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon. "However, he swore an oath to uphold and enforce North Carolina law, and this is the latest example of his refusal to do his job.”
Meanwhile, North Carolina U.S. district judge William Osteen has asked parties involved in the Bryant v. Woodall case to submit briefs on whether the injunction on the 20-week ban should be lifted. On July 8, Osteen requested the briefs be submitted within 30 days. He said he could also issue a ruling even if the briefs aren't submitted.
Only a small number of abortions in North Carolina are performed after 20 weeks — most are performed in the first trimester — but as it gets harder to obtain abortions in other states, experts say there may be more abortions later in pregnancy.
State data from 2020 show48 North Carolina residents had an abortion at 21 weeks or later, or roughly .2% of all of the residents who had abortions. Thirty of those were performed in North Carolina and 18 were out-of-state. Most abortion providers in North Carolina don’t offer abortions after 20 weeks, even though abortion is currently legal up to viability, which is around 24 weeks.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 1% of abortions across the U.S. in 2019 were performed at 21 weeks or later.
