RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina’s abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably.

The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point.

But Eagles on Friday restored enforcement of another provision that she had previously blocked that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals. In light of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, she wrote, the lawmakers “need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions regulating abortion.”

In this case, legislators contended the hospital requirement would protect maternal health by reducing risks to some women who could experience major complications after 12 weeks, Eagles said. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a physician who initially sued offered “credible and largely uncontroverted medical and scientific evidence” that the hospital requirement “will unnecessarily make such abortions more dangerous for many women and more expensive,” Eagles added.

SEE ALSO | Some North Carolina abortion pill restrictions are unlawful, federal judge rules

But “the plaintiffs have not negated every conceivable basis the General Assembly may have had for enacting the hospitalization requirement,” Eagles, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, wrote in vacating a preliminary injunction on the hospital requirement.

Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles’ decisions still mean most of North Carolina’s abortion laws updated since the end of Roe v. Wade are in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023. It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

Eagles on Friday affirmed blocking the clause in the abortion law requiring physicians to document the “intrauterine location of a pregnancy” before distributing medication for abortion.

SEE ALSO | Supreme Court unanimously strikes down legal challenge to abortion pill mifepristone

Lawyers representing House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger defending the law argued the documentation protected the health of women with ectopic pregnancies, which can be dangerous and when ruptured may be similar to the expected symptoms of a medication abortion, according to the opinion.

But Eagles wrote the medication in a medication abortion doesn’t exacerbate the risks of complications from an ectopic pregnancy. And she remained convinced that the law is unconstitutionally vague and subjects abortion providers to claims that they broke the law – and possible penalties – if they can’t locate an embryo through an ultrasound because the pregnancy is so new.

The provision “violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional due process rights,” she wrote.

Spokespeople for Planned Parenthood, Berger and Moore didn’t respond to emails late Friday seeking comment. Eagles’ upcoming final judgment can be appealed.

SEE ALSO | Abortion in North Carolina could be impacted after rulings in Arizona, Florida

State Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, abortion-rights supporter and 2024 candidate for governor, was officially a lawsuit defendant. But lawyers from his office had asked Eagles to block the two provisions, largely agreeing with Planned Parenthood’s arguments.

The lawsuit was initially filed in June 2023 and contained other challenges to the abortion law that the legislature quickly addressed with new legislation. Eagles issued a preliminary injunction last September blocking the two provisions still at issue on Friday. Eagles said last month she would make a final decision in the case without going through a full trial.

North Carolina remains a destination for many out-of-state women seeking abortions, as most states in the U.S. South have implemented laws banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant — or near-total bans.

SEE ALSO | Abortion advocates, opponents rally in downtown Raleigh as election year heats up

RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state regulators now declare a nonprofit run by the wife of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson must repay over $132,000 for what they call disallowed expenses while carrying out a federally funded child care meal program.

The state Department of Health and Human Services revealed a larger amount in a Friday letter to Yolanda Hill following a compliance review of Balanced Nutrition Inc., for which Hill is listed as owner and chief financial officer. Robinson, who is also the Republican nominee for governor this fall, worked in the nonprofit years ago before running for elected office, according to his memoir.

Hill previously announced she was shutting down the nonprofit’s enterprise and withdrawing from the Child and Adult Care Food Program on April 30. But state officials had already announced in March that the fiscal year’s review of Balanced Nutrition would begin April 15.

The review’s findings, released Wednesday, cited new and repeat problems, including lax paperwork and the failure to file valid claims on behalf of child care operators or to report expenses accurately. The program told Hill and other leaders to soon take corrective action on the “serious deficiencies” or regulators would propose they be disqualified from future program participation.

The state health department said on Thursday that the Greensboro nonprofit also owed the state $24,400 in unverified expenses reimbursed to several child care providers or homes examined by regulators in the review.

But Friday’s letter counted another $107,719 in ineligible claims or expenses that the state said was generated while Balanced Nutrition performed administrative and operating activities as a program sponsor during the first three months of the year. Forms signed by regulators attributed over $80,000 of these disallowed costs to “administrative labor” or “operating labor.” The records don’t provide details about the labor costs.

This week’s compliance review did say that Balanced Nutrition should have disclosed and received approval from the program that Hill’s daughter was working for the nonprofit.

The owed amounts and proposed program disqualification can be appealed. A lawyer representing Balanced Nutrition and Hill did not immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment.

The lawyer, Tyler Brooks, has previously questioned the review’s timing, alleging Balanced Nutrition was being targeted because Hill is Robinson’s wife and that “political bias” tainted the compliance review process. Program leaders, meanwhile, have described in written correspondence difficulties in obtaining documents and meeting with Balanced Nutrition leaders.

The health department is run by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration. He was term-limited from seeking reelection. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein is running against Robinson for governor.

Balanced Nutrition helped child care centers and homes qualify to participate in the free- and reduced-meal program, filed claims for centers to get reimbursed for meals for enrollees and ensured the centers remained in compliance with program requirements. The nonprofit received a portion of a center’s reimbursement for its services.

Balanced Nutrition, funded by taxpayers, has collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family, tax filings and state documents show.

Robinson described in his memoir how the operation brought fiscal stability to his family, giving him the ability to quit a furniture manufacturing job in 2018 and begin a career in politics.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina’s abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably.

The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point.

But Eagles on Friday restored enforcement of another provision that she had previously blocked that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals. In light of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, she wrote, the lawmakers “need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions regulating abortion.”

In this case, legislators contended the hospital requirement would protect maternal health by reducing risks to some women who could experience major complications after 12 weeks, Eagles said. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a physician who initially sued offered “credible and largely uncontroverted medical and scientific evidence” that the hospital requirement “will unnecessarily make such abortions more dangerous for many women and more expensive,” Eagles added.

But “the plaintiffs have not negated every conceivable basis the General Assembly may have had for enacting the hospitalization requirement,” Eagles, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, wrote in vacating a preliminary injunction on the hospital requirement.

Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles’ decisions still mean most of North Carolina’s abortion law updated since the end of Roe v. Wade is in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023 . It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

Eagles on Friday affirmed blocking the clause in the abortion law requiring physicians to document the “intrauterine location of a pregnancy” before distributing medication abortion.

Lawyers representing House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger defending the law argued the documentation protected the health of women with ectopic pregnancies, which can be dangerous and when ruptured may be similar to the expected symptoms of a medication abortion, according to the opinion.

But Eagles wrote a medication abortion doesn’t exacerbate the risks of an ectopic pregnancy. And she remained convinced that the law is unconstitutionally vague and subjects abortion providers to claims that they broke the law — and possible penalties — if they can’t locate an embryo through an ultrasound because the pregnancy is so new.

The provision “violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional due process rights,” she wrote.

Spokespeople for Planned Parenthood, Berger and Moore didn’t respond to emails late Friday seeking comment. Eagles’ upcoming final judgement can be appealed.

State Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, abortion-rights supporter and 2024 candidate for governor, was officially a lawsuit defendant. But lawyers from his office had asked Eagles to block the two provisions, largely agreeing with Planned Parenthood’s arguments.

The lawsuit was initially filed in June 2023 and contained other challenges to the abortion law that the legislature quickly addressed with new legislation. Eagles issued a preliminary injunction last September blocking the two provision still at issue on Friday. Eagles said last month she would make a final decision in the case without going through a full trial.

North Carolina still remains a destination for many out-of-state women seeking abortions, as most states in the U.S. South have implemented laws banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant — or near-total bans.