The North Carolina General Assembly is set to take up the veto override of SB20, the Care for Women, Children, and Families Act, much to the chagrin of Gov. Roy Cooper, who has conducted a pressure campaign in an attempt to swing legislators. While critics have claimed the bill is a total ban on abortions, this is untrue.
What the bill does is move abortions from 20 weeks to 12 weeks for any circumstance, allows for abortions up to 20 weeks for the cases of rape and incest, up to 24 weeks for infants with “life-limiting anomalies,” and at any time in the case of concerns for the life of the mother. While the bill is not the outright ban they claim, it significantly impacts planned parenthood.
SB20 requires that abortions be conducted at a suitable hospital or clinic. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic CEO Jenny Black claims that their centers do not meet this new standard and would require massive investments to come into compliance.
Planned Parenthood has taken an active role in elections over the years, spending nearly $10 million in North Carolina state-level races since 2016, according to the State Board of Elections (SBE). Most of that money was spent during 2016 and 2020 elections, with over $7.4 Million in just these election years alone. While Gov. Cooper benefited indirectly from all of planned parenthood’s electioneering in 2016 and 2020, their elections reports specify that he was the direct beneficiary of $2 million of the
A complete database of Planned Parenthood state-level campaign spending can be found below. All data provided comes from their SBE reports and does not include any spending from their non-profits.
Planned Parenthood Spending 2016-2022
In October of 2022, Planned Parenthood’s political arm claimed it would invest $5 million in key North Carolina legislative elections to preserve Governor Cooper’s veto. However, their State Board of Elections only shows $1.9 million in spending. It is unclear what happened with the other $3 million.
