Pro-Choice North Carolina applauds Governor Josh Stein’s recent executive order directing state agencies to take action to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care in North Carolina. Over the last decade, and over the vetoes of the previous Governor and against the will of the majority of North Carolinians who support abortion access free from government interference, anti-abortion legislators passed extreme and unnecessary restrictions on abortion care in North Carolina. Governor Stein has a long history of championing reproductive rights during his time in public office, and we are pleased to see him using his position as Governor to highlight and prioritize protecting access to reproductive health care for all North Carolinians.

In directing state agencies to protect patients’ and medical professionals' rights to lawfully obtain and provide abortion care, the Governor’s order is taking aim at anti-abortion lawmakers’ efforts to cross state lines and impose their abortion restrictions everywhere, regardless of the will of voters in other states. By highlighting the need to protect patient privacy and counter anti-abortion disinformation, we hope state agencies are encouraged to demand more accountability from groups like the state’s nearly 100 anti-abortion centers. These tax-funded organizations are not medical centers—they are an integral part of the national coordinated effort to ban abortion across the U.S., with no exceptions. 

While North Carolina, for now, continues to be a place where patients in the southeast can access abortion, we know that emboldened anti-abortion elected officials at the state and federal levels will do everything they can to change that. With too many unnecessary restrictions—such as a 3-day forced waiting period and an arbitrary and unnecessary gestational ban—North Carolina patients and doctors face daunting challenges in accessing and providing care.  Governor Stein’s new Executive Order declares his commitment to supporting our right to make our own decisions about our bodies, families, and futures. The illegally gerrymandered North Carolina General Assembly should follow the Governor’s lead, and at the very least focus their efforts on our state’s pressing needs—such as actual disaster relief for western North Carolina, fully funded public schools, and access to comprehensive and quality healthcare, rather than pushing through unpopular, dangerous, and politically motivated restrictions on abortion and reproductive health care.