North Carolina governor issues executive order to protect abortion

Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) issued an executive order aimed at protecting abortion in the Tar Heel State, just weeks after taking office.

Stein, a Democrat, governs over a state that has large GOP majorities in both state houses, and an abortion law that bans the practice after 12 weeks. On Thursday, he issued the executive order, which calls on state Cabinet agencies not to cooperate with attempts to prosecute or penalize “medical professionals providing lawful reproductive health care services or patients obtaining lawful reproductive health care.”