Care for Women, Children, and Families Act.

"Care for Women, Children, and Families." It sounds like a support bill. Prenatal care, maybe. Childcare subsidies. Family leave. Something you'd see on a poster in a pediatrician's office.

It's an abortion ban. SB 20 bans most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, down from 20 weeks under prior law. It adds a mandatory 72-hour waiting period with in-person counseling (no phone, no video... you have to physically go to the clinic, then come back later). It criminalizes advertising abortion-inducing drugs in certain circumstances. It adds new facility licensing requirements for abortion providers.

The bill does include some support provisions... maternity home funding, safe surrender rules for infants, Medicaid postpartum coverage. Those are real things. But the title frames the entire 46-page bill around "care" when the core policy change is a restriction on reproductive healthcare access. The NC Medical Society opposed it, saying it interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.

It was introduced Tuesday night and passed both chambers by Thursday. Less than 48 hours from introduction to passage. Governor Cooper vetoed it. The supermajority overrode him 72-48 in the House and 30-20 in the Senate. The override was made possible by Rep. Tricia Cotham, who had recently switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, giving the GOP its supermajority.