A state judge has struck down North Dakota’s ban on abortion, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable
— A state judge struck down North Dakota’s ban on abortion Thursday, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable.
In his ruling, state District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law violates the state constitution because it is too vague.
Romanick was ruling on a request from the state to dismiss a 2022 lawsuit filed against the ban by what at the time was the sole abortion clinic in North Dakota. The clinic has sinced moved across the border to Minnesota, and the state argued that a trial wouldn’t make a difference. The judge had canceled a trial set for August.
Romanick cited how North Dakota Constitution’s guarantees “inalienable rights,” including “life and liberty.”
“The abortions statutes at issue in this case infringes on a woman’s fundamental right to procreative autonomy, and are not narrowly tailored to promote women;s health or to protect unborn human life,” Romanick wrote in his 24-page order. “The law as currently drafted takes away a woman’s liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.
