North Carolina Senate overrides governor's abortion ban veto

North Carolina's Republican-led Senate on Tuesday voted to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper over a bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks.

The vote was 30-20 along party lines.

The House, where Republicans hold a 72-48 majority, will next consider Cooper's veto, and a three-fifths vote of all voting and present members there would successfully enact the bill into law. The chamber is not expected to consider an override vote before Tuesday night.

Cooper vetoed the abortion ban on Saturday after the Republican-controlled state Senate advanced the bill to his desk in a party-line vote.

The governor had placed pressure on four state Republican lawmakers who had previously vowed to protect abortion rights - state Reps. Ted Davis, John Bradford, Tricia Cotham and Republican state Sen. Michael Lee - by paying visits to their districts and urging them to stand by their comments.

"We are going to have to kick it into an even higher gear when that veto stamp comes down. If just one Republican in either the House or the Senate keeps a campaign promise to protect women's reproductive health we can stop this ban," Cooper said at a rally on Saturday.

Republicans in the state gained a veto-proof supermajority last month when then-Democrat Cotham switched parties. Cotham, who had campaigned in favor of abortion rights as a Democrat, was one of the Republicans who voted for the bill. She also sponsored legislation earlier this session to codify Roe v. Wade.