By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
August 1, 2024
Doctors who abort North Carolina babies after 12 weeks of pregnancy will need to do so in hospital settings, according to a federal judicial ruling issued last week that upholds the hospitalization requirement in the state’s 2023 abortion law. At the same time, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles struck down the portion of the law requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills.
Both requirements had been blocked by temporary injunctions while challenges to the state’s laws were heard. The hospitalization requirement applies to exceptions to the state’s 12-week abortion ban such as cases involving life-limiting fetal anomalies or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
“We’re disappointed that the judge has struck down the part of the law that required doctors to rule out an ectopic pregnancy before prescribing abortion drugs,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “But we’re thankful that most of the law remains intact.”
In their court filings, lawyers defending the state statute pointed out that “as the leading cause of maternal mortality in the first trimester, ectopic pregnancies must be identified and treated before they rupture.”
“The North Carolina General Assembly addressed this danger by requiring doctors to document an intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) prior to giving women drugs that can mask the symptoms of a life-threatening rupture,” they wrote. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also addressed this risk by including a warning on mifepristone’s label that a prescriber must ‘exclude [an ectopic pregnancy] before treatment.’ Codifying FDA’s warning into law is rational.”
Dr. Susan Bane, a board-certified OB/GYN and medical director of three pregnancy centers in North Carolina, points out the need for pregnant women to be informed and empowered when it comes to their healthcare.
“The drugs used to induce an abortion do not treat ectopic pregnancy. Instead, women who self-administer their chemical abortion drugs without an ultrasound also risk delayed detection and treatment of ectopic pregnancies, increasing the risk of greater internal bleeding and death,” she wrote in a recent op-ed.
Even Planned Parenthood, on its website, admits that “getting checked out by a doctor is the only way to know for sure if you have an ectopic pregnancy.”
“Your doctor or nurse may do a pelvic exam, blood test, or ultrasound to find out,” the site says.
Nonetheless, Eagles ruled that the provision was “unconstitutionally vague.”
“The requirement does not give medical providers sufficient notice of the required conduct, and it does not include sufficient standards to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Therefore, the statute violates the plaintiffs’ due process rights,” the judge wrote in the order.
North Carolina’s abortion law, enacted in May 2023 after lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto, narrowed abortion access from up to 20 weeks to up to 12 weeks following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling dismantling Roe v. Wade.
To stay abreast of pro-life issues, visit this page of the CAL website.
