North Dakota Supreme Court keeps in place block on state’s abortion ban
Washington — The North Dakota Supreme Court held in place Thursday Injunction of lower court Enactment of the state’s abortion ban while a legal challenge is pending, the measure likely violates the North Dakota Constitution.
gave Decision The lawsuit came from North Dakota’s highest court brought by an abortion provider that was once the state’s only clinic. The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade., eliminating the right to abortion under the federal constitution and leaving abortion policy up to the states. The provider, Red River Women’s Clinic, moved to Minnesota as a result of North Dakota’s abortion restrictions.
North Dakota’s trigger law was passed by the state legislature in 2007 and makes it a crime for a person to have an abortion. This includes exceptions for abortions resulting from rape or adultery or to save the life of the mother.
But the Red River Women’s Clinic argued that the stimulation ban is unconstitutional, because the North Dakota Constitution provides a fundamental right to abortion.
The implementation of the ban was linked to the Supreme Court’s June decision to replace cotton, but the law blocked Since late July, when a North Dakota district court granted a request to stay the enforcement. After a lower court granted the clinics’ request for a preliminary injunction, North Dakota’s attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to intervene and reinstate the trigger ban.
But the state Supreme Court denied the state’s request to lift the preliminary injunction while the legal battle continues, leaving the abortion clinics with a good chance of success.
“The North Dakota Constitution clearly grants to all citizens of North Dakota the right to enjoy and defend life and to seek and secure life,” Chief Justice Jon Jensen wrote in the majority opinion. “These rights expressly include the right to an abortion to save the life or health of a woman.”
The court found that after reviewing the state’s history and traditions and the plain language of the North Dakota Constitution, “it is clear that the citizens of North Dakota have the right to enjoy and defend life and to secure and the right to obtain, which necessarily includes. A pregnant woman has the fundamental right to an abortion to preserve her life or health.”
The North Dakota Supreme Court also ruled that the state’s trigger ban is potentially unconstitutional, because it “unnecessarily restricts a woman’s access to an abortion to preserve her life or health.” ”
The state high court’s ruling is a significant victory for abortion rights advocates, who have waged a legal battle to challenge abortion restrictions under the state constitution since the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
Nancy Northrup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers, hailed the North Dakota Supreme Court’s ruling, saying it upheld the ban as “a right with” stopped from taking effect.
“Under the state constitution, North Dakotans are promised the rights to life, liberty, security and happiness, all of which protect the right to have an abortion,” he said in a statement. “In state after state, people have made it clear they want this right protected, yet state officials continue to ignore the will of their citizens.”
Red River Women’s Clinic director Tami Krumenker said the high court made the “right decision” and sided with North Dakotans.
“People seeking abortion care know what’s best for them and their families and should be able to access the services they need as and when they need them,” she said in a statement. They need it,” he said in a statement.
Since the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, more than 12 states have imposed restrictions or stricter restrictions on access to abortion.