Abortion Will Be Legal in North Dakota Once Again
A state judge ruled on Thursday that North Dakota’s near-total abortion ban is unconstitutional, paving the way for the procedure to become legal once again in the coming days. The decision is a massive victory for health-care providers (there are no remaining abortion clinics in the state), who argued in a lawsuit that the law’s vague and confusing language made it impossible to determine when they could offer care in medical emergencies.
District judge Bruce Romanick agreed with the plaintiffs, saying the state constitution protects people’s ability to seek abortion care before viability free of government interference. “All North Dakota citizens, including women, have the right to make fundamental, appropriate, and informed medical decisions in consultation with a physician and to receive their chosen medical care among comparable alternatives,” Romanick wrote in his opinion. “Such a choice is a fundamental one, central to personal autonomy and self-determination. Those choices belong to the individual, not the government. That is the essence of what liberty and happiness require.”
North Dakota’s trigger law went into effect shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The law made an exception for medical emergencies but offered no clear guidelines on how physicians could determine whether a patient was sick enough to qualify for an abortion. The penalties for violating the ban include up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000, making providers hesitant to offer care out of fear of running afoul of the law. In 2023, the Republican-controlled state amended the measure to include an exception for rape and incest victims, allowing them to obtain abortion care up until six weeks of pregnancy — in essence, two weeks after their last missed period.
Romanick wrote in his ruling that the medical exception was too narrow and that the law was unconstitutional due to its vagueness. But even though abortion will now be legal again in the state, it won’t be easy for most North Dakotans to access care. Red River Women’s Clinic, which for years was North Dakota’s sole provider, relocated to Moorhead, Minnesota, after Dobbs. The clinic was one of the plaintiffs in the case, which was brought forward by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“Clinics are medical facilities that need to acquire doctors, staff, equipment — they can take years to open, like most health-care centers,” Meetra Mehdizadeh, a staff attorney at the Center, said in a statement. “The destructive impacts of abortion bans are felt long after they are struck down. This is now the second abortion ban that lawmakers have passed that has been struck down in court. We urge North Dakota lawmakers to respect this ruling and the reproductive autonomy of its people.”
The Cut offers an online tool you can use to search by Zip Code for professional providers, including clinics, hospitals, and independent OB/GYNs, as well as for abortion funds, transportation options, and information for remote resources like receiving the abortion pill by mail. For legal guidance, contact Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812 or the Abortion Defense Network.