NC AG’s staff asks judge not to restore 20-week abortion ban

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina attorney general’s office, representing defendants in a 2019 case that blocked a state law banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, has joined plaintiffs in asking a federal court not to restore the ban after the judge suggested his injunction “may now be contrary to law.” Reinstating restrictions in the aftermath of the June U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade would create “significant risk of public confusion” about the availability and legality of abortion services in North Carolina, the attorney general’s office argued in a brief filed late Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. A month after U.S. District Judge William Osteen asked all parties in the case to file briefs explaining whether they think his previous ruling retains legal force in the absence of federal abortion protections, both parties said they do not see a strong legal argument for lifting the injunction at this time. Attorneys for Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, who are not named parties in the case, argued in a July 27 friend of the court brief that they had “significant interest” to intervene because Stein was avoiding his responsibilities by not seeking enforcement of the blocked 1973 state law. “We’re confident that Judge Osteen will see through the political posturing of the plaintiffs and the attorney general’s office and lift the injunction now that Roe and Casey have been overturned,” said Berger spokesperson Lauren Horsch, referring to the two cases struck down by the Supreme Court on June 24.