Bill seeking to ban virtually all abortions in NC will not advance

A bill filed Monday seeking to ban most abortions in North Carolina will not be heard in the N.C. House of Representatives or its committees this legislative session, House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters Tuesday.

"I don't think there's any real desire in our caucus to hear that particular bill, and so it's not going to be heard in committee," said Hall, a Caldwell County Republican.

House Bill 804 would ban virtually all abortions, beginning at conception. The legislation's primary sponsors are leaders of the House Freedom Caucus, including Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Beaufort County Republican, and Rep. Ben Moss, a Richmond County Republican.

The bill would apply to any kind of abortion, including those induced with medication, surgical procedures or anything else. There would be no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Abortions would only be allowed in situations where the life of the mother is threatened or there is a "serious risk" of the pregnancy impairing a major bodily function.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which offers sexual and reproductive health care in North Carolina, called the legislation "dangerous and deeply unpopular."

In a statement, Jillian Riley, the organization's director of public affairs, argued everyone should have access to abortion.

"Yet year after year," Riley continued, "the most extreme politicians in our legislature put forward the same heinous bill that seeks to strip us of our basic reproductive freedom and turn North Carolina into a forced-birth state."

Sen. Natalie Murdock, a Democrat from Durham, said she hoped the legislation would be "dead-on-arrival."

"I don't know why we keep fighting over women having control of their own bodies," Murdock said.

North Carolina's abortion laws

The N.C. General Assembly overhauled the state's abortion laws in 2023, shortly after a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion that had been enshrined in the Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

North Carolina's law bans abortions after a pregnancy reaches 12 weeks in most cases, down from the state's former law of 20 weeks. Women whose pregnancy is the result of rape or incest can legally seek an abortion until they reach 20 weeks.

Legislative Republicans overrode a veto from then-Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, in order for that bill to become law.

Speaking Tuesday, Hall called the 2023 bill "landmark pro-life legislation."

"That bill did a lot of things," Hall continued, "and I think we need to give some more time to see how that bill is working. But I don't anticipate doing much more (with) that issue this session."

In the Senate, President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said abortion laws "probably would not be modified" this session.

"I don't know that there's support that we could get a bill passed and a veto overridden," said Berger, a Rockingham County Republican.

House Bill 804 was referred to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday. It did not receive serial referrals to any other committee.