N. Carolina AG won't seek to renew 20-week abortion ban

North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general has declined to meet Republican legislative leaders’ demand that he ask a federal court to lift an injunction on a state law banning nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Attorney General Josh Stein was responding to Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, who called on Stein and the state Justice Department to “take all necessary legal action” to lift an injunction from a 2019 federal court ruling that blocked the state ban. The Republican legislative leaders argue the June 24 Supreme Court ruling that overturned nationwide abortion protections invalidated the legal underpinning of the federal court decision and opened the door to reinstate the ban.