A single lawmaker who switched parties this spring helped North Carolina Republicans override the Democratic governor’s veto Tuesday and enact a sweeping new abortion ban that will impede access throughout the South.
Tricia Cotham, a state representative who in April announced she was switching from Democrat to Republican, gave the party the two-thirds supermajority required to bar pregnant people from having abortions after 12 weeks gestation.
The ban will significantly limit the amount of time patients have to seek abortions, making it more difficult for those traveling from even more restrictive states to access the procedure in North Carolina.
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Legislators voted late into the night, following days of last-minute jockeying to persuade at least one Republican to uphold Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. Abortion rights advocates held out hope until the last minute that Cotham—who passionately spoke out about her own abortion on the House floor in 2015—would vote against it or simply abstain.
But Cotham voted in favor of the ban, along with two other legislators who had previously pledged to uphold the existing law allowing abortion up to 20 weeks. Audience members erupted in chants of “Shame!” as the results were announced.
“Today will go down as a shameful loss of freedom in our state,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running for governor.
Cotham, a lifelong Democrat who previously served in the assembly from 2007 to 2017, switched party affiliations after winning re-election as a Democrat in November. At a press conference announcing the switch, Cotham said she had been “bullied” by Democrats and “alienated” from the party. She said Democrats had not clapped for her when she was honored as the youngest woman elected to the state house in March—a claim that flummoxed Democrats, who said both parties had applauded.
Cotham’s defection in theory gave Republicans in the legislature the 72 votes they need to override any of Cooper’s vetoes. With that supermajority, Republicans hope to pass education and policing reform and anti-transgender provisions.
The ban passed on Tuesday replaces a 20-week ban. It also limits the amount of time pregnant people have to seek abortions in cases of rape, incest, or severe fetal abnormality, and requires patients to meet with their provider 72 hours before the procedure.
The 72-hour restriction is especially damaging to women traveling from out of state, the numbers of which have skyrocketed since surrounding states passed restrictive bans following the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Mississippi have all banned abortion completely, while Georgia and Florida ban the procedure after six months, leaving North Carolina an important outlet for access. The state saw a 37 percent increase in abortions in the eight months after Roe fell, according to The New York Times, and a local abortion fund reported an 400 percent increase in requests for assistance.
Now patients will have to travel to North Carolina within 12 weeks or make longer, more expensive journeys to the dwindling number of more permissive states.
“The provisions of this bill are just going to be so devastating for people who would be coming from outside North Carolina for care,” said the director of engagement for the Carolina Abortion Fund, who asked that her name not be used for fear of harassment.
“I cannot tell you how many times I’ve spoken to someone who did not know they were pregnant until it was too late, or they were assaulted ... or they’re underage, or they’re scared, or they don’t have the money,” she added. “These bans hurt people who are already struggling to access care. It’s just going to entrench those difficulties.”
Cotham campaigned on protecting abortion rights, tweeting in May 2022 that the state needed “leaders who will be unwavering and unapologetic in their support of abortion rights.” She supported a bill codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade into law as recently as this year.
But Cotham was not the only legislator to flip-flip on abortion. Republican Rep. John Bradford told the editorial board of the Charlotte Observer in October that he would leave the existing 20-week law in place, saying: “I support the law … That’s a pretty clear position, where I am, where I’ve been.” Republican Rep. Ted Davis also said last year that he supports “what the law is in North Carolina right now.”
In a last-ditch attempt to stop the override, abortion rights advocates inundated the legislators with calls asking them to change their minds, at one point contacting Davis and Sen. Michael Lee at least once every three minutes, according to the Times. Never & Now, an abortion rights advocacy group started by four North Carolina moms after the fall of Roe, also sent out emails and social media posts asking their community members to call legislators. Co-founder Liz Morrell told The Daily Beast that volunteers found several Republican legislators’ voicemails were full or disabled this week.
State Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said the party organized literature drops, phone banks, and rallies in the members’ neighborhoods, with a particular emphasis on Cotham.
“I want people to put the pressure on them that [they are] going to have to answer for this,” she told The Daily Beast. Of Cotham, she added: “We’re just asking her not to take away our rights to things she already had.”
During the House vote Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers complained that the bill had been introduced and voted on in 42 hours—less time than pregnant people are required to wait to have an abortion under the law. One lawmaker shared her own abortion experience; two spoke about their fears for their teenage daughters. Others questioned why the legislature was so eager to pass a bill not supported by the majority of voters.
“Why are we doing this? Why are you so determined to subvert the popular will of our state?” asked Rep. Julie von Haefen. “Why do you so profoundly distrust the women of our state?”
Cotham, Bradford, and Davis did not speak before casting their votes in favor of the override.
