  The value of the upper critical field Hc2, a fundamental characteristic of
the superconducting state, has been subject to strong controversy in high-Tc
copper-oxides. Since the issue has been tackled almost exclusively by
macroscopic techniques so far, there is a clear need for local-probe
measurements. Here, we use 17O NMR to measure the spin susceptibility
$\chi_{spin}$ of the CuO2 planes at low temperature in charge ordered
YBa2Cu3Oy. We find that $\chi_{spin}$ increases (most likely linearly) with
magnetic field H and saturates above field values ranging from 20 to 40 T. This
result is consistent with Hc2 values claimed by G. Grissonnanche et al. [Nat.
Commun. 5, 3280 (2014)] and with the interpretation that the
charge-density-wave (CDW) reduces Hc2 in underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy. Furthermore, the
absence of marked deviation in $\chi_{spin}(H)$ at the onset of long-range CDW
order indicates that this Hc2 reduction and the Fermi-surface reconstruction
are primarily rooted in the short-range CDW order already present in zero
field, not in the field-induced long-range CDWorder. Above Hc2, the relatively
low values of $\chi_{spin}$ at T=2 K show that the pseudogap is a ground-state
property, independent of the superconducting gap.
