People on both sides of the issue agree North Carolina has less restrictive abortion laws than neighboring states, but not by much.
State lawmakers have been responsible for establishing abortion legislation since the U.S. Supreme Court gave women nationwide the right to an abortion with its historic Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
The Tar Heel State has since revised its abortion laws in such a manner that the anti-abortion group
Americans United for Life listed North Carolina as the nation’s 25th most protective state in terms of its anti-abortion legislation.
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Among North Carolina’s four bordering states, the report named Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia as the 23rd, 21st, 19th, and 15th most protective state, respectively.
Meanwhile, NARAL Pro-Choice America ranked North Carolina as the 30th worst state for reproductive rights. Among the Tar Heel State’s neighbors, NARAL listed Tennessee at 28th worst, Georgia at 29th, South Carolina at 31st, and Virginia at 42nd.
North Carolina is less restrictive than some of its neighbors in that it allows partial-birth abortions,
according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. That organization indicated partial-birth abortions are banned in Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia — though the Georgia ban only covers situations in which the fetus remains viable. The South Carolina and Tennessee bans — because of the broad nature of their language — remain unchallenged but are presumably unenforceable under a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Nebraska ban, the Guttmacher Institute reported.
North Carolina joins most of its neighboring states in requiring parental consent for a minor to have an abortion,
according to the Guttmacher Institute. It indicated Georgia requires parental notification but not consent; Virginia requires both notification and consent; and Tennessee and South Carolina both require consent, though South Carolina allows for specific health professionals to waive parental involvement in limited circumstances.
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