12-week abortion bill clears North Carolina House

Senate Bill 20 now goes to the Senate, where a final floor vote is expected on Thursday.

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled House on Wednesday voted in support a fast-tracked bill banning abortion at 12 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and fetal anomalies.

The measure passed by a vote of 71-46, with two Democrats and one Republican not voting. A particularly notable voting absence: Rep. Ted Davis, a New Hanover…