The North Carolina General Assembly is currently in its long legislative session, which starts in mid-January of odd years and is the first year of a two-year session. North Carolina's fiscal year runs from July 1 - June 30, and historically legislative long sessions are supposed to end before the new budget year begins in July. For over a decade, however, this has not been the case, with long legislative sessions running well into the fall, or even running all year, with multi-week breaks scheduled throughout. This undisciplined schedule has meant tracking legislation is now even more unpredictable, and can be quite time-consuming for the average voter.

Pro-Choice North Carolina is committed to bringing voices in support of reproductive freedom to the legislature, whether to promote proactive bills that should not be languishing in committee all session, or to oppose harmful, inflammatory, or unnecessary bills that restrict our freedoms and healthcare access. Support for reproductive freedom is the majority and popular opinion in North Carolina, and we demand that our lawmakers respond to the people they serve, not special interests, when crafting policies and laws that impact all of us.

We work with our partners to track a number of intersecting policy issues, including voting rights, protection of democracy, immigration policies, Medicaid and healthcare access, workers' rights, civil rights, economic security, and access to child care. Our speciality is promoting policies that support reproductive freedom, including access to abortion, contraception, and pregnancy care. With recent coordinated and similar attacks on both abortion care and LGBTQ+ rights demonstrating again how wide-ranging attacks on our bodies are, we are monitoring the below legislation for this session.

Bills in Support of Reproductive Freedom and Bodily Autonomy

Accountability for anti-abortion centers (CPCs) 

• SB 247: Redirect Crisis Pregnancy Center Funds
• HB 522: Crisis Pregnancy Center Fraud Prevention Act

Protecting access to reproductive healthcare 

• HB 452: Revise Law/ Obstruction of Health Facility
• HB 473 / SB 383 - Right to IVF
• HB 474 / SB 413 - Right to use Contraception

Protecting our rights and freedoms 

• SB 381 - Equality for All
• HB 501 / SB 662 - Modernize Domestic Violence Prevention Order
• HB503 Don't Tread on Me Act 

Because an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ leadership controls both the North Carolina House and Senate, we unfortunately will likely not see these bills move forward. It’s still important to introduce these bills, to remind North Carolina residents what it looks like to take action to protect and expand rights, rather than to punish and stigmatize marginalized groups of people. 

Bills Attacking Reproductive Freedom and Bodily Autonomy

• H553: Act Reversing Abortion-Inducing Drug Laws
  • An extension of 2023’s anti-abortion SB20, this bill unnecessarily attacks access to medication abortion, which is a safe and effective option for abortion care.  
• S442/S560: Parents Protection Act
  • An unnecessary and inflammatory bill that attempts to politicize foster care and adoption for LGBTQ youth, and that runs contrary to the "best interests of the child" standard for care.
• S516: Women's Safety and Protection Act
  • A new version of 2016’s HB2, an anti-trans "bathroom bill", attacking trans communities and creating rigid state definitions of gender.
• S759/H519: Minors’ Health Protection Act
  • A bill removing a minor’s (under 18 year old) ability to consent to most private medical treatment, including mental health counseling, access to contraception, and STI testing and treatment.
• H595: Parental Right for Curriculum and Books
  • Expands North Carolina’s 2023 version of the “Don’t Say Gay” bills that have been enacted around the country.  This bill expands book bans to public, rather than just school, libraries and targets the LGBTQ+ community for increased discrimination.

It is unclear how or if any of these bills may move through the legislature this session. Legislative rules require a bill to pass a full vote in one chamber by a crossover deadline (May 8 for this session) to still be an active bill for the remainder of the 2025-26 session. However, budget discussions start later this spring and even if some of these harmful bills never move through the normal legislative process, we could still see all or parts of some of these bills brought into budget negotiations. 

We invite you to join us in speaking out about these bills, both ones you want to see passed or ones you would like to make sure are stopped. You can also always contact your lawmakers to tell them your priorities for your communities, like access to affordable health care or fully funding our public schools. Remember that our elected officials work for us!

For more ways to take action for reproductive freedom, including easy links for emailing your state lawmakers, check out our Take Action page.