Gov. Cooper travels to Mecklenburg as ‘prisoner of hope,’ aiming to sway GOP on abortion
This article has been corrected to clarify that medication abortions would be permitted up to 12 weeks of pregnancy under Senate Bill 20.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday made the first of a planned series of stops in North Carolina districts represented by legislators he hopes to sway from overriding his veto on a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks.
Cooper said he would veto the bill, S.B. 20, on Saturday. Cooper’s office announced later Tuesday that the veto would take place at a “Veto Rally for Health Care Freedom” at 10 a.m. in Raleigh on Bicentennial Mall.
At Davidson’s Town Hall, Rep. John Bradford, a north Mecklenburg Republican, was not among the six people at a 45-minute discussion about the bill, but the conversation occurred in his district for a reason. Mecklenburg County is also home to GOP Rep. Tricia Cotham, whose district includes the eastern part of the county, including Mint Hill.
Cooper has singled out Bradford, Cotham, Sen. Michael Lee and Rep. Ted Davis, both Wilmington-area Republicans, as legislators who have supported abortion rights in the past and might be votes that could thwart the slim Republican supermajority from overriding Cooper’s veto. He has additional discussions planned in New Hanover and Guilford counties.
But Cooper said his message Tuesday wasn’t aimed specifically at Bradford or Cotham.
“I’m speaking to their constituents because they (Bradford or Cotham) don’t have to answer to me,” Cooper said. “They do have to answer to the people to whom they made a promise to protect women’s reproductive freedom.”
All but Davis, who had an excused absence, already voted to pass the bill. Cooper, though, openly pleaded for any Republican to not vote to override his veto. There’s nothing wrong with changing your vote, Cooper said.
“All we need is one Republican in either chamber,” Cooper said.
The N.C. General Assembly includes 72 Republicans in the House and 30 in the Senate — just enough for a three-fifths supermajority that could override Cooper’s veto.
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The discussion included doctors from both Planned Parenthood and the North Carolina Obstetrics and Gynecology Society, as well as abortion rights supporters from A Women’s Preferred Health Center and the Black Abortion Defense League. All discussed aspects of the bill that would make obtaining an abortion more difficult in North Carolina, including what they said would be further requirements for medication abortions, and three in-person appointments scheduled for a medical abortion.
“We just do not want to go backward,” said Dr. John Allbert, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who treats high-risk pregnant people. “I’m begging. Please do not make North Carolina go backwards.”
North Carolina currently prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions for medical emergencies. The GOP bill brings that down to 12 weeks with exceptions up to 20 weeks for rape and incest, up to 24 weeks for “life-limiting” fetal anomalies, and without limit if a physician determines that the mother’s life is in danger due to a medical emergency.
Effect of Cooper’s public pressure
It’s unclear whether Cooper’s efforts to plead for public pressure on specific representatives might backfire. Cotham announced last month that she was leaving the Democratic Party, her political home for her entire adult life, due to what she said was an inhospitable environment for moderate and independently minded lawmakers.
Asked if he worried about strengthening Cotham’s resolve against Democrats with pressure, Cooper countered that her constituents remember a 2015 speech on the House floor when she described her own abortion experience and lobbied for medical decisions to not be legislated.
“Nothing has changed since then,” Cooper said. “A party label shouldn’t change that fact. And if you want independent thought, then this is a real time to exercise that independent thought and to stand up to your new party like you stood up to your old party.”
Cotham did not respond to an Observer request for comment Tuesday.
Bradford, when contacted by the Observer, did not appear swayed by Cooper’s efforts.
“Governor Cooper has made a career out of attacking Republicans,” Bradford said in a text message that went on to say Cooper’s actions play to “the radical left” and positions that Bradford said aren’t supported by “mainstream votes.”
N.C. Sen. Natasha Marcus, whose district includes Davidson, was among Tuesday’s participants. Marcus said she was thankful that Cooper was at least trying to stop the veto override.
“I am grateful that we have a governor who’s willing to do it,” Marcus said. “Some governors would have given up and said, ‘Well, it looks like we don’t have the votes. I guess we’re done.’”
As for whether the final plea will work?
“I’m a prisoner of hope,” Cooper said. “I tend to think there will be a person who has a conscience. I tend to think that there will be a person who wants to keep a promise. I tend to think that there would be a person who would want to create a legacy of standing up for what is right, and for saving lives and protecting women’s reproductive freedom. This is still an opportunity to do it.”
The Observer’s Josh Bergeron contributed to this story.
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