North Carolina reproductive rights groups Monday filed a motion seeking to temporarily enjoin a ban on advanced healthcare professionals providing medication abortions. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective requested the temporary injunction amid increased appointment volume from patients traveling to North Carolina from states with full or partial abortion bans. 23 states have enacted laws banning abortion entirely or severely limiting the time period during which pregnant people can seek abortions following the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The motion alleges that clinics in North Carolina have expanded service availability from one day per week to three days per week since Roe was overturned. However, wait times have increased from an average of 12 days to an average of 21 days. The motion also notes that advanced clinical practitioners are already allowed under North Carolina law to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, the medications used for medication abortion, for miscarriages, so any concern about the safety of prescribing these drugs is misplaced.

Jaclyn Maffetore of the ACLU’s North Carolina Legal Foundation noted that “attacks on abortion disproportionately impact those who are already marginalized, limiting health care access for our most vulnerable community members.” Maffetore says, “By asking the court to immediately block this restriction, we further our fight for reproductive justice in our state.”

In 2020, abortion providers challenged a set of North Carolina laws imposing unnecessarily burdensome limitations on abortion access. One of these laws, the “APC Ban,” prohibits nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives from prescribing the medications necessary for a medication abortion. These practitioners commonly prescribe medication with similar and even higher risk levels, so advocates believes prescribing medication abortions is well within their scope of practice.