When compared nationally, North Carolina ranks toward the middle among U.S. states in terms of the restrictiveness of its abortion laws, people on both sides of the issue agree.
Each of the 50 states has been responsible for enacting its own abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 gave women nationwide the right to that procedure.
Legislators in North Carolina have amended its abortion regulations in a manner that left the Tar Heel State ranked as the 30th worst state nationwide in terms of reproductive rights laws in 2015 by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
NARAL gave North Carolina a grade of “F” for its reproductive rights laws.
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Meanwhile, the anti-abortion group
Americans United for Life ranked North Carolina as the 25th most protective state in terms of enacting anti-abortion legislation.
North Carolina maintains a mixture of reproductive rights laws. On the less restrictive side, partial-birth abortions there are legal,
according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. North Carolina also does not require the reporting of abortion information to the federal Centers for Disease Control,
according to AUL.
On the more restrictive side, North Carolina requires minors to have parental consent to obtain an abortion, the Guttmacher Institute reported.
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The institute added that North Carolina:
- Requires women seeking abortions to receive state-directed counseling, including information designed to discourage them from having an abortion, then wait 24 hours before the abortion can be provided.
- Bans the use of telemedicine to perform medication abortion.
- Allows for public funding to be used to pay for abortions only in situations involving rape, incest, or endangerment of the woman’s life.
- Allows for health plans offered in its Affordable Health Care Act health exchange to cover abortion only in situations involving rape, incest, or endangerment of the woman’s life.
- Allows for abortion to be covered in insurance policies for public employees only in situations involving rape, incest, or endangerment of the woman’s life.
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