NC Attorney General pledges to protect abortion, reproductive rights

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wednesday afternoon inside the Department of Justice building in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein took an opportunity to, yet again, double down on access to abortion and reproductive rights for women and girls in North Carolina.

"Decisions about reproductive care are deeply personal," said Stein. "They should be made by a woman in consultation with her loved ones and her doctor. They shouldn't be made by politicians. As Attorney General, I will do everything in my power to protect women's right to reproductive care, because it's the right thing to do. And because it's necessary to create the kind of North Carolina we all want."

Stein, a Democrat, who was flanked by Democratic Congresswoman Deborah Ross, Democratic State Rep Rosa Gill, and Dr. Erica Pettigrew, delivered the news conference on the heels of a major victory in Kansas regarding abortion rights and President Joe Biden's recent executive order expanding access to abortion and medical care.

In Kansas, state voters rejected by a nearly 20-point margin a ballot measure that would have removed a right to abortion from the state's constitution. The rejection was seen by many as the first major victory against the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.

"I think what it shows is public sentiment. The evolution of public sentiment. Politicians need to listen to their constituents and not put politics over people," said Ross. "And the fact that Kansas was the canary in the coal mine for this and we got that kind of result, I think sends a very strong message to the rest of the country. And in a purple state like North Carolina, I would think it would be even greater than 20."

Biden's executive order further protects women who travel across state lines to get an abortion or receive medical care. Furthermore, it ensures health care providers give access to women who need and want the care.

Leaders with the North Carolina GOP replied "no comment" when asked for a response to today's words out of the Department of Justice.

But a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said it was Democrats who are out of touch and predicted Americans would let that be known in November.

"North Carolina Democrats continue to show their cards: they are out of touch with the majority of the American people on abortion," RNC Spokeswoman Taylor Mazock said. "The extreme positions of Attorney General Josh Stein and Congresswoman Deborah Ross, along with their backing of Joe Biden's failing agenda, will be their downfall in the upcoming election."

Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, both Republicans, urged Stein to reinstate North Carolina's ban on abortion past 20 weeks of pregnancy.