The Quickie: N.C. Abortion Providers and Activists File New Motion to Block Abortion Care Restrictions
For Immediate Release: Oct. 17, 2022
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.
In today’s Quickie: Planned Parenthood South Atlantic fights to improve North Carolinians’ access to abortion in the courts and on the ballot!
N.C. ABORTION PROVIDERS AND ACTIVISTS FILE NEW MOTION TO BLOCK ABORTION CARE RESTRICTIONS: Abortion providers in North Carolina, including Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), and SisterSong Women of Color Reporductive Justice Collective filed a new motion today in the lawsuit previously challenging several medically unnecessary abortion restrictions in the state. Today’s filing asks the court to grant a partial preliminary injunction to block the state’s ban on qualified advanced practice clinicians (APCs) — such as physician assistants, certified nurse-midwives, and nurse practitioners – from providing medication abortion. If granted by the court, the ban would be blocked while the court evaluates the merits of the case.
Today’s filing comes as North Carolinians struggle to access time-sensitive care in their own state amid the ogoing public health crisis triggered by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, resulting in a dramatic influx of out-of-state patients seeking abortion care in North Carolina. Medically unnecessary restrictions like the APC ban have pushed abortion out of reach for many in the state and stigmatized critical health care. Allowing APCs to provide medication abortion in North Carolina — as they already do in other states, including neighboring Virginia — would signifiantly expand abortion access for patients in the state.
“The prohibition of qualified advanced practice clinicians providing medication abortion is completely arbitrary, medically unnecessary, and profoundly limits access to abortion in North Carolina,” said Anne Logan Bass, a nurse practitioner at PPSAT. “Certified nurse midwives and nurse practitioners like myself are highly trained medical professionals who are qualified to provide this care and already do in other states — just not in North Carolina. Today, we are asking the court to help alleviate this health crisis by removing an unnecessary barrier to care so that more North Carolinians can access a full range of reproductive health services, including time-sensitive abortion care, in their own state.”
Read more at Reuters.
PROTECTING ABORTION ACCESS IN THE SOUTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ASSEMBLY RACE: As part of Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s partnership with Cosmopolitan, we’re taking a deep dive into the importance of the North Carolina State Assembly race and what this means for abortion access. Currently, anti-abortion politicians have a majority in the legislature, but they have been unable to enact new abortion restrictions due to the veto pen of Gov. Roy Cooper. However, if anti-aboriton legislators are able to gain just a handful of seats, they will have a “veto-proof” majority and could enshrine abortion restrictions into law on their own–including a 6-week abortion ban. That’s why it’s crucial that North Carolinians continue to send champions for abortion rights to Raleigh.
“North Carolina voters must cast their ballots for reproductive champions up and down the ballot if health care providers are going to be able to continue rising to the challenge of this moment, both for North Carolinians and for the many other desperate and deserving patients in need across the South,” said Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic.
Read the full feature at Cosmopolitan and tune back in tomorrow for day 3 of our midterm highlights series.