RALEIGH, NC — North Carolina House Republicans scheduled a private meeting on Tuesday to debate where they stand on additional abortion restrictions, according to the chamber’s top leader.
But Speaker Tim Moore cautioned against expecting quick movement within the General Assembly among Republicans interested in narrowing further when abortions are permitted in the state.
North Carolina bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions for urgent medical emergencies. Decisions over abortion have swung to the states since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections last June.
In a brief interview, the Cleveland County Republican said that the House Republican Caucus was meeting Tuesday afternoon to “see where the consensus of the caucus is” on abortion legislation.
Most of the public discussion among Republicans has been centered around two options. One would prohibit abortions after the first trimester — 12 or 13 weeks of pregnancy — with new exceptions for rape and incest. Another would ban them once an ultrasound first detects fetal cardiac activity. That’s typically about six weeks after fertilization and before many patients know they’re pregnant.
“Those are the ranges that we’re actively discussing right now,” Moore said on the way to the caucus meeting, adding that “there’s a consensus to do something.”
Moore has said he personally supports the six-week prohibition, while Senate leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, has said he backs a first-trimester limit.
Any agreement among House Republicans would serve as the basis for private negotiations with Senate Republicans, according to Moore, who prefers having one negotiated measure with Senate counterparts to advance publicly through the General Assembly.
While he said a bill is “probably a couple of weeks” away from surfacing, “we want to work through it — cover everything, get it right — instead of worrying about getting it done fast.”
Any approved measure would be sent to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, a strong abortion-rights supporter. He campaigned for Democratic legislative candidates last fall by saying he needed them to uphold his vetoes on abortion restrictions. While Republicans still won a veto-proof majority in the Senate following the November elections, the GOP fell one seat short of a similar margin in the House. So Republicans likely would need help from at least one House Democrat to complete an override.
Anti-abortion advocates visited the Legislative Building on Tuesday. They gathered to hear from Moore and other legislators, including Democratic Rep. Garland Pierce of Scotland County, according to news outlets.
Pierce, a minister, said afterward that he wouldn’t commit to be for or against an abortion measure until he saw details.
“I want to see just what the limits are, and how far or how close,” Pierce told WRAL-TV.
Abortion-rights advocates lobbied the legislative complex last week. Physicians presented a letter signed by more than 1,000 health care providers asking that lawmakers oppose any additional restrictions beyond the current 20-week limit.
