North Dakota’s Abortion Ban Is Overturned

A judge ruled that the State Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion until the fetus was viable. The state’s attorney general said he would appeal.

A North Dakota judge overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban on Thursday, saying that the State Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion until the fetus was viable.

“The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference,” wrote Judge Bruce Romanick of the district court in Burleigh County.

The judge, who won his seat in a nonpartisan election, said the ban violated numerous constitutional guarantees, including the right to liberty and to “pursue and obtain safety and happiness.” He also said it violated the State Constitution’s due process protections because it was too vague in how it defined exceptions to the ban.

Attorney General Drew H. Wrigley, a Republican, said he planned to appeal. And while the judge’s order means that abortion will become legal soon, the procedure will remain largely unavailable because the only clinic in the state, which sued to overturn the ban in 2022, has moved to Minnesota.

Still, doctors said that it would restore their ability to provide abortions in hospitals, particularly to women with pregnancy complications. Now, they say they often have to send those women out of state, or make them wait until they get sicker out of fear of violating the ban, which punishes doctors with up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

“I’ve cared for these women, I’ve been there for all of their pregnancy complications, and the fear has been real,” Dr. Ana Tobiasz, who was a plaintiff in the suit, said after the ruling. “Nobody wants these bans — not patients, not doctors, not families.”