North Carolina’s GOP-led House Fails to Override Governor’s Veto of Abortion Bill
North Carolina’s Republican-led House on Thursday failed to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill that would require doctors to try to preserve the life of an infant born alive during an attempted abortion.
To override Cooper’s veto of the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” supporters of the bill needed the approval of three-fifths of each chamber of the state legislature.
In the end, the effort to override died in the House in a 67-53 vote.
“It’s important to protect the lives of all children, and laws already exist to protect newborn babies,” Cooper said via Twitter when he learned the result of the vote.
“Instead of passing unnecessary legislation for political purposes we need to move on from divisive social issues and focus on the needs of North Carolina families: education, health care and good-paying jobs,” he said.
Under the proposed North Carolina law, if a health care practitioner did not try to preserve the life of an infant born alive during an abortion attempt, they would be guilty of a class D felony.
The bill went on to say if anyone intentionally “performs an overt act” that kills the baby, they would be guilty of murder.
In a letter announcing his veto in April, Cooper said the bill was an “unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients” and would “criminalize doctors and other healthcare providers for a practice that simply does not exist.”
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