Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of North Carolina signed an order Thursday that he thinks will make it easier for people all over the state to get reproductive health care.
The order tells Cabinet departments to protect women’s medical privacy, defend doctors who perform abortions in the state, and not help with efforts to punish, investigate, or prosecute people who seek reproductive health care, like abortion.
“Over the past few years, our state has seen shocking attacks on women’s reproductive rights,” Stein said in a statement. “I will continue to do everything in my power to protect women’s freedoms and their privacy.”
The order also says that state agencies must look over and, if necessary, change their data privacy rules for women’s reproductive health care.
The executive order comes at a time when lawmakers in some states are getting ready for more restrictions on access to reproductive health care if Trump wins a second term.
Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek said last fall that the state had stored enough mifepristone abortion pills for three years before President-elect Trump took office.
This week, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey also promised to start stockpiling mifepristone because he was worried about the new government.
During the campaign, Trump said that he would not ban abortion across the country. Instead, he would let each state decide how to handle future access to abortions. In an interview with Time magazine, he also said he would protect access to abortion pills, but he said he could break that promise because “things change.”
Stein was chosen governor of North Carolina last year after being attorney general for the state before. He took over for former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who issued an order soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022 to protect North Carolinians from being extradited after getting abortions outside of North Carolina.
Cooper’s executive order also said that state agencies couldn’t help other states punish North Carolinians who got abortions in other states.
North Carolina’s law has changed since 2022. In July 2023, the state banned abortions after 12 weeks.
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