Cooper signs new changes to NC abortion law, addressing issues from Planned Parenthood lawsuit

New changes to North Carolina’s abortion law are now law. Republican lawmakers wrote and passed them this week, to address problems raised in a federal lawsuit by Planned Parenthood,

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed the bill into law Thursday afternoon.

Cooper opposed the state’s new abortion law, which lowered the deadline to get an abortion from 20 weeks down to 12 weeks. He vetoed that bill earlier this year, although Republicans override his veto and passed it into law anyway.

The newer changes, however, were less controversial. When Planned Parenthood sued North Carolina over the abortion law, it pointed out a number of potentially unconstitutional provisions in it. Some new regulations for doctors providing abortions were impossible to comply with. Some parts of the law directly contradicted other existing laws. And yet other new rules, Planned Parenthood had claimed, were unacceptably vague — potentially forcing women or doctors to have to just guess as to whether their actions might break the law or not.

Republican lawmakers are fighting the lawsuit, but they did acknowledge many of Planned Parenthood’s complaints were legitimate. So they wrote fixes to some — although not all — of the issues the lawsuit pointed out. And those fixes are what Cooper signed into law Thursday. He said he signed it to help women and doctors, not because he suddenly sides with Republicans on the broader issue of restricting abortion access.

“In addition to being dangerous for women, the rushed abortion ban was so poorly written that it is causing real uncertainty for doctors and other health care providers,” Cooper wrote when he announced his decision. “This bill is important to clarify the rules and provide some certainty, however we will continue fighting on all fronts the Republican assault on women’s reproductive freedom.”