The State Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling last month and said the state Constitution protected abortion rights in some situations.
“North Dakota lawmakers are attempting to bypass the state Constitution and court system with this total ban,” said Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of Red River clinic. “They made the exceptions a little bit less narrow but essentially tried to repackage the trigger ban.”
Ms. Smith said the center was still analyzing the new law and had not “determined what the next steps will be.”
Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River clinic, called the new law “an assault on bodily autonomy and abortion rights.”
“This legislation is out of step with the people of North Dakota,” Ms. Kromenaker said.
The Red River Women’s Clinic stopped offering abortions in the state, instead moving a short drive across the border to Moorhead, Minn., in August. But attorneys representing the clinic say it is important to ensure that the ban does not take effect, so that patients facing medical emergencies can receive abortions in hospitals and from their doctors.
“North Dakota has been pro-life before statehood, and before Roe,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senator Janne Myrdal, a Republican. “I’m passionate about protecting women, but also their unborn children, that goes hand in hand.”
Most states with sweeping abortion restrictions offer some exceptions to save the life of a mother, but translating those exceptions has sown confusion and turmoil among doctors and patients. In the months since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, very few exceptions to these new abortion bans have been granted, a New York Times review of available state data and interviews with dozens of physicians, advocates and lawmakers revealed.
In last month’s opinion, the North Dakota Supreme Court raised concerns that a sweeping abortion ban might violate “a fundamental right to an abortion in the limited instances of lifesaving and health-preserving circumstances.”
Amy Schoenfeld Walker contributed reporting.
