The North Carolina Senate passed last-minute changes Monday to the state's new abortion law that's scheduled to take effect Saturday. The vote came as a lawsuit over the new abortion restrictions — including a ban on many abortions after 12-weeks — plays out in federal court.
Senate Republicans rolled out the surprise changes last week, tweaking a law they passed last month just 10 days before it goes into effect. The bill goes next to the House for approval.
The last-minute changes are rushing through the legislature, in advance of a federal court hearing Wednesday in Greensboro. A federal judge could decide then whether to block key parts of the law, at least temporarily, while a federal lawsuit runs its course.
When GOP leaders first rolled out the new tweaks to the abortion law last week, Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said they were simply trying to address questions posed about the law, and legal disagreements over what it requires.
"There’s nothing in this bill that is different than our intent for the [original] bill and what we believe the bill originally says," Hise said. “We very much see it as something that is technical and clarifying and makes no substantive changes.”
The last-minute changes are rushing through the legislature, in advance of a federal court hearing Wednesday in Greensboro. A federal judge could decide then whether to block key parts of the law, at least temporarily, while a federal lawsuit runs its course.
When GOP leaders first rolled out the new tweaks to the abortion law last week, Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said they were simply trying to address questions posed about the law, and legal disagreements over what it requires.
"There’s nothing in this bill that is different than our intent for the [original] bill and what we believe the bill originally says," Hise said. “We very much see it as something that is technical and clarifying and makes no substantive changes.”
Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters Monday he believes the abortion law is constitutional even without the tweaks that are moving forward now, "but we'll see what happens in court. I gave up a long time ago trying to predict what a judge was going to do."
