Health care providers weighed in on the impacts of SB20 and the danger in further restricting abortion access.

RALEIGH, NC – On Aug 27th, Governor Roy Cooper hosted a roundtable discussion highlighting the current reproductive care landscape in North Carolina and the harmful impacts of Senate Bill 20, the abortion ban passed last year by North Carolina Republicans. The group also discussed how any further restrictions on abortion in North Carolina would be even more dangerous for women’s health. The Governor was joined by the White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein and medical professionals as they discussed the negative effects of abortion bans on reproductive health care in North Carolina.

"North Carolina’s abortion ban and unnecessary restrictions have made it more difficult for medical professionals to do their job and provide care to women across our state,” said Governor Cooper. “A number of Republican legislators broke their promises to the people they represent by voting to override my veto of this abortion ban, so don’t trust them if they say as Election Day nears that they won’t make the ban even more restrictive. They absolutely will.”

During the roundtable, participants addressed how provisions of SB20 have impacted the medical care they provide to patients. Unnecessary, burdensome regulations from SB20 have made it difficult for doctors to perform their jobs and for patients to receive the care they need.

SB20 outlawed abortion in North Carolina after 12 weeks of pregnancy, with very limited exceptions, and went into effect on July 1, 2023. In addition, the law:

• Required three in-person appointments days apart for anyone seeking a medication abortion, which doctors have called “medically unjustified and unnecessary,” and make care harder to access for anyone who can’t take off work, afford to travel, stay in a hotel or get extra child care. A federal district court judge has since struck down the requirement for the in-person follow-up visit, declaring it unconstitutional.
• Implemented new regulations and licensing requirements that don’t contribute to patient safety.

The courts have recognized many of the problems with SB20; recently, a federal judge enjoined the provisions of the law that: prohibit anyone other than a doctor from prescribing the medication abortion drug mifepristone; require in-person prescribing and dispensing of that drug; require the scheduling of a follow-up appointment for medication abortions; and require certain unnecessary reporting to the federal Food and Drug Administration.

However, since SB20 became law, there have been damaging statewide impacts to the reproductive health care landscape in North Carolina. The state has seen a heightened shortage of OB-GYNs and primary care doctors who don’t want to practice in North Carolina due to fear of government prosecution for doing their jobs, and there has been a 6.4% drop in applications to OB-GYN residency programs in states with gestational limits on abortion, including North Carolina.

The impacts of abortion bans in other states such as Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana have also placed greater strain on North Carolina’s reproductive health care systems. Meanwhile, Republican legislators have discussed the possibility of restricting reproductive health care in North Carolina even further in the coming months and years.