State judge overturns North Dakota abortion ban

WashingtonA North Dakota judge on Thursday struck down a law banning most abortions in the conservative US state, calling it vague and unconstitutional.

North Dakota’s legislature last year approved a ban on abortion except in cases of rape or incest and if the pregnancy poses a serious risk to the mother’s health.

Even in cases of rape or incest, abortion can only be performed on women who are less than six weeks pregnant.

State District Judge Bruce Romanick ruled in a lawsuit filed by North Dakota’s only abortion clinic, which has since moved to neighboring Minnesota, where the procedure is legal.

The judge said the law passed by North Dakota’s Republican-majority legislature was “confusing and vague.”

“As currently written, it could have a profound chilling effect on physicians’ willingness to perform abortions, even though the North Dakota Supreme Court has already said there is a fundamental right to do so to preserve a woman’s life or health,” Romanick said.

The law, he argued, also fails on constitutional grounds.

“The North Dakota Constitution guarantees all individuals, including women, the fundamental right to make medical decisions affecting their bodily integrity, health and autonomy, in consultation with the health care provider of their choice and without government interference,” Romanick said.

Meetra Mehdizadeh, a lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, hailed the ruling as a “victory for reproductive freedom,” but lamented that the “damage” done in North Dakota “cannot be undone overnight.”

Abortion rights have become a key issue in the November presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

It is also a banner of the Democrats since the conservative-dominated Supreme Court repealed the right to this procedure throughout the United States in 2022.