About 100 supporters of abortion rights rallied Monday outside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, often confronting opponents of abortion.
The rally was one of hundreds nationwide, under the umbrella name of #Stopthebans. Women chanted, "We will not go back!" during the rally, as Charlotte police kept the anti-abortion rights protestors a few yards away.
Last month, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the General Assembly's "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors" bill, which would require that doctors care for any baby born alive during an attempted abortion. Cooper said that existing laws already protect newborns.
The Senate has overridden Cooper's veto. The House could vote on whether to override the veto next week.
Alabama last week passed the state's most restrictive abortion law, which bans it in almost all cases.
"It's only gotten worse since the election," said Angela Anders, who works as an escort for women seeking abortions at a clinic on Latrobe Drive in Charlotte. "Obviously things started taking a turn then, that everyone could notice. But now in the past few weeks tempers are flaring with our protestors, with our supporters."
On Monday, African-American women protested a proposed Planned Parenthood clinic that's expected to open in the summer off Kings Drive, near the historically black Cherry neighborhood.
