North Dakota Judge Overturns State Abortion Ban

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Facts

  • North Dakota's Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick overturned the state's broad abortion restrictions on Thursday, ruling the state constitution protects a woman's 'fundamental right to make medical judgments' about her health.[1][2]
  • The nonpartisan judge, who will retire later this year, further said the law violates several constitutional tenets, including the right to due process protections and the right 'to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.'[1][3][4]
  • The now-vacated trigger law — passed in 2007 to take effect if Roe v. Wade was ever repealed — banned abortion with exceptions for rape and incest at less than six weeks and to prevent the death or a serious health risk to the woman.[1][5][6][7]
  • North Dakota's Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in a statement that the state will appeal the decision, which will take effect in the next few weeks once the judge issues a judgment repealing the ban.[4][8]
  • North Dakota has no abortion clinics since the Red River Women's Clinic, which filed the case, moved from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota, after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.[8][9]
  • In the Dobbs decision, SCOTUS handed the regulation of abortion to the states. There are now 13 states across the country — Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia — that have bans on abortion.[8][5][9]

Sources: [1]New York Times, [2]Daily Wire, [3]Ballotpedia, [4]North Dakota Monitor, [5]CBS, [6]Breitbart, [7]Courthousenews, [8]Associated Press and [9]USA Today.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Salon. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Republicans acted swiftly to ban nearly all abortions in many states. But it's turned out that public opinion and many courts are in favor of protecting a woman's inalienable right to make her own health decisions, and North Dakota is just one of several states being forced to rightfully restore access to reproductive care.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by National Review. The only reason pro-abortion groups are winning cases like this and getting abortion access onto several states' ballots is because of funding from outside influencers. There are no winners in this case, and hopefully, moving forward, the courts and lawmakers will do a better job of protecting the unborn children who are too often overlooked in these situations.

Predictions