GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina’s newest abortion ban is at the center of a federal lawsuit.
This comes just a couple of days before the new law goes into effect.
In a federal courtroom Wednesday, on one side of the aisle sat those who filed the lawsuit including counsel for Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and Dr. Beverly Gray, an OBGYN out of Durham.
The plaintiffs claim the law has a lot of confusion and vagueness throughout.
Both the plaintiffs and defendants argue about the law's clarity about topics like fetal homicide, 10-week verification, 72-hour mandate, reporting requirement, and advise procure consent.
The plaintiffs argue there isn’t enough time to figure out compliance with the new law.
Planned Parenthood also said there is chaos and havoc that healthcare providers face because of this new law.
On the other side sat representation for Attorney General Josh Stein, NC Department of Justice, representation for DA Jim O'Neil, NC Board of Nurses, DHHS, and counsel for Senator Berger and state legislature.
Republicans in the Senate made what they call technical changes to the original law, in a bill last week.
As of right now, the bill with the amendments to the law has passed the Senate and the House.
Now it heads to the Governor's desk by “special message.”
The governor has until July 7th to act on it. If he doesn’t act, the bill becomes law, if he vetoes the bill the legislature can override that veto and the bill will become law. If he signs the bill, then some of the claims in the lawsuit will be irrelevant.
Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order over the new law, which includes a ban on many abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The attorney representing Senate Leader Phil Berger and the state legislature said healthcare providers had about two months to figure out how the law will impact them.
“There doesn’t need to be a TRO at all,” the attorney said.
The federal judge said she will not be making a decision Wednesday on the Temporary Restraining Order.
That decision will be made sometime on Friday after a draft of the TRO is finalized.
Plaintiffs and defendants have until 4 p.m. Thursday to suggest changes to the draft.
The decision of the judge could push the July 1 implementation date out by two weeks.
The judge will decide whether or not to block some key parts of the law while a federal lawsuit plays out.
If a TRO is granted, providers will have an additional 14 days to get clarification of the law. But if it is denied, the law in its entirety goes into effect on July 1.
GOP lawmakers hope the proposed amendment to the law will let the abortion ban take effect Saturday.