North Dakota judge strikes down state ban on abortion
Levi Lass
BISMARCK, N.D. (CN) — A North Dakota judge halted the state’s ban on abortion Thursday, finding its language vague and that it unconstitutionally hindered the fundamental right to abortion before a fetus is viable.
State District Judge Bruce Romanick issued the ruling after a promise to deliver a quick turnaround from a state request for dismissal in July.
Romanick’s ruling struck down the law as “unconstitutionally void for vagueness” and held that “pregnant women in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability exists.”
“Before viability, unborn human life is not a sufficient justification to interfere with a woman’s fundamental right to happiness, to preservation of her own mental health and well-being, and to life-saving and health-preserving medical care,” Romanick wrote in the 24-page ruling.
Romanick pointed to the ban’s vagueness because it did not set sufficient standards as to when exceptions apply and potentially infringed on doctors’ abilities to make medical decisions.
“The law currently infringes on a physician’s ability to even provide a reasonable medical judgment and good medical care to a pregnant woman by excluding a significant part of the woman’s health, psychological and emotional conditions.”
Romanick also cited North Dakota constitutional guarantees of life, liberty and inalienable rights.
Republican Governor Doug Burgum signed the ban into law last year, which allowed for abortion for rape or incest up until six weeks of pregnancy. After that point, an abortion could only be administered to “prevent death or a serious health risk.”
The so-called trigger law passed in 2007 and was set to take effect if Roe v. Wade was ever repealed. That occurred with the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson ruling in 2022, which held that abortion is not a federally recognized constitutional right.
Romanick's ruling came in response to the state's request to dismiss a lawsuit by the Red River Women’s Clinic, which challenged the ban and subsequently moved its clinic across the Red River into Minnesota.
Up until its move, the clinic was the sole provider of abortions for the entire state. There are currently no facilities that offer abortions in North Dakota, despite the ban’s exceptions.
According to the clinic's director Tammi Kromenaker, that won't change.
"We have no plans to move back to North Dakota. Having moved once was already a huge upheaval and drain on our resources," Kromenaker said. "We are five minutes away from our former location in downtown Fargo, which means that access for our patients is essentially the same."
Kromenaker also noted North Dakota still has restrictions on abortion including a 24-hour waiting period, requirements for care providers to dissuade patients from abortion and limits on medication abortions. But she said the ruling gave her hope.
"I feel like the court heard us when we raised our voices against a law that not only ran counter to our state constitution, but was too vague for physicians to interpret and which prevented them from providing the high quality care that our communities are entitled to,” Kromenaker said. "Abortion is lifesaving health care; it should not be a crime. I look forward to a new future in North Dakota and hope our lawmakers will finally give up on their crusade to force pregnancy on people against their will. As we see at our clinic every day, pregnancy is complex, and each pregnant person knows what is best for their specific situation.”
Meetra Mehdizadeh, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement that the ruling "means it is now much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota,” but lamented that the ban “cannot be undone overnight.”
“There are no abortion clinics left in North Dakota,” Mehdizadeh said. “That means most people seeking an abortion still won’t be able to get one, even though it is legal.”