North Carolina's state-funded abortions were unusual in the South.
According to a 2002 study of the State Abortion Fund by North Carolina professor Philip Morgan and Allan Parnell, the state has "a history of supporting abortion rights" despite its political conservatism.
In a brief history of the fund, they note that state abortion laws were liberalized in 1967, allowing legal abortions in the case of medical emergencies, rape and incest.
In 1976, three years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which restricted the use of Medicaid dollars for abortion services. In 1978, North Carolina responded by creating the State Abortion Fund.
Initially, women only had to be state residents with a low income (either qualifying for welfare or making 50 percent of poverty level).
In 1985, a requirement was added that a doctor had to certify the abortion was medically necessary, either because it was a result of rape or incest, the fetus was deformed, the woman was mentally retarded, or the woman's physical, mental or emotional health was at risk.
In 1990, the legislature reduced the limit from 135 days to 112 days of gestation and allowed women one state-funded abortion under the health impairment rule.
In 1995, the budget was slashed from $1 million to $50,000 a year. Further restrictions have left even the smaller fund unused every year since.
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