Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a controversial abortion bill Thursday, saying it’s unnecessary and ill-advised.

The bill would create new criminal and civil penalties for infanticide, specifically for situations in which a baby survives an abortion procedure. The new punishments apply to doctors and nurses who don’t provide care for the surviving newborns.

Supporters of the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” have not shown evidence of it happening in North Carolina. And if it were to happen, the perpetrator can already be charged with murder. But they say the bill is needed, to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Cooper disagreed.

“Laws already protect newborn babies and this bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients,” the Democratic governor said in his veto message. “This needless legislation would criminalize doctors and other healthcare providers for a practice that simply does not exist.”