On Thursday, a North Dakota state court judge overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban, allowing abortion to become legal in the state for the first time in over a year. Judge Bruce Romanick in Bismarck ruled that the state constitution protects women’s right to abortion before fetal viability, supporting abortion providers who challenged the ban. This order will take effect within 14 days.
Meetra Mehdizadeh, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the plaintiffs, celebrated the decision, stating, “This is a win for reproductive freedom, and it means it is now much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota.”
In response, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced the state’s plan to appeal the ruling. He argued that Judge Romanick’s opinion disregarded the legislative process and contradicted state Supreme Court precedent.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a Republican, signed the abortion ban into law in April 2023, making it a felony for doctors to perform abortions. The law permits exceptions for cases where the mother’s life or health is at serious risk, though providers involved in the lawsuit argued that the law’s language left doctors unclear about when abortions would be legally permitted. The ban also allows exceptions for rape and incest victims, but only within the first six weeks of pregnancy, often before many women realize they are pregnant.
Abortion providers initially sued North Dakota in 2022 over a stricter abortion ban that would have taken effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June allowing states to ban abortion. Judge Romanick blocked that 2022 ban, a decision upheld by the state’s Supreme Court. In response, the state legislature passed a new ban. On Thursday, Romanick reaffirmed that the state constitution protects North Dakotans’ right to make personal medical decisions regarding their health, bodily integrity, and autonomy.
Romanick further wrote, “Unborn human life, pre-viability, is not a sufficient justification to interfere with a woman’s fundamental rights.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling, North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic relocated from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota. North Dakota is among more than 20 Republican-led states that have banned or restricted abortion since the 2022 ruling. Some of these laws have been blocked by courts or overturned by ballot measures.
At least nine states will vote on ballot measures in the November 5 election to guarantee abortion rights. Policy regarding abortion and women’s reproductive rights remains a key issue in this year’s presidential election
