After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson case, many observers wondered whether non-surgical abortions–i.e., abortions caused by certain medications–would become illegal.
There are now two competing court decisions about this issue.
This Texas-based decision, issued on April 7, ordered the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
On the same day, another federal court ordered the FDA not to withdraw mifepristone approval in the following states:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Pennsylvania
- Washington
The Texas decision is currently stayed (i.e., not in effect) for seven days to allow for appeals.
Because two federal courts have disagreed, it is likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling to settle the matter. When such a ruling might happen is unknown.
Do you need committee minutes? Old North Carolina statutes? Study reports?
These sorts of documents and more are available on our Legislative Publications page. Here are the highlights:
- Constitutions – Copies of the 1776, 1868, and 1971 North Carolina Constitutions. Also links to a list of all amendments to the 1971 Constitution, which the Legislative Library maintains.
- Superseded statutes – Scanned images of North Carolina statutes from 1821-1983. This is a work in progress, courtesy of the State Library of North Carolina.
- Committee meeting minutes – Scanned full text of standing (1997-2016) and non-standing (1963-1987, 1997-2017) committee minutes.
- Agency reports – Full text of reports submitted to the General Assembly by North Carolina administrative agencies. Most are from 2010 forward.
Looking for something that you can’t find on our website? Contact the Legislative Library at 919-733-9390 or library@ncleg.gov.