Gov. Cooper signs executive order to protect reproductive rights

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Wednesday designed to defend access to reproductive health services in North Carolina.

The main takeaway from the order, that Cooper signed at a press conference with Planned Parenthood Action Fund leaders, is that healthcare providers and patients are protected from prosecution from other states for the reproductive healthcare they receive here.

Cooper stressed that Executive Order 263 can help make sure that patients get the care they need in North Carolina, even if they come from out of state. The order also means that cabinet agencies cannot require a pregnant state employee to travel to a state where there are not protections for the health of the pregnant person.

“We know that the direction of women’s healthcare in our state isn’t just up to me. The state legislator makes the laws and they can pass some bad ones,” Cooper said. “But right now, we have enough votes to sustain my vetoes when they send those bad laws to me.”

Cooper’s office says North Carolina is already seeing an influx of patients coming to the state for safe reproductive care due to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

According to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, one-third of the patients on their schedule in clinics in North Carolina are from out of state this week.

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