After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Illegal

North Dakota

North Dakota is enforcing a total abortion ban with limited exceptions.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Medication Abortion, Telemedicine Ban
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Admitting Privilege Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

North Dakota law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, North Dakota’s policy preference to ban abortion to the fullest extent of the law: “[b]etween normal childbirth and abortion, it is the policy of the state of North Dakota that normal childbirth is to be given preference, encouragement, and support by law and by state action, it being in the best interests of the well-being and common good of North Dakota citizens.”1

The state Supreme Court established that North Dakota’s constitutional rights to life and safety do include the right to an abortion, however only when an abortion is necessary to preserve the person’s life or health.2

Restrictions

The performance of an abortion in North Dakota is prohibited as a felony.3 In November 2025, the North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the state’s total ban on abortion, enacted in 2023, which prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy,4 with certain exceptions.5 Survivors and victims of rape and incest can obtain abortions up to six weeks gestation.6 The state Supreme Court ruling overturned a lower court’s decision that North Dakota’s total abortion ban is both unconstitutionally void for vagueness and violates a pregnant person’s fundamental right to access abortion care.7

The state retains gestational bans on abortion after viability8 and prohibits D&X procedures.9 North Dakota law continues to include requirements that pregnant people must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period,10 biased counseling,11 and be given the offer of having and viewing an ultrasound;12 as well as prohibitions on public funding,13 and private insurance coverage.14 The state continues to require that both living parents, legal guardians,15 or a judge16 consent to a minor’s abortion.17

North Dakota retains targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws including requirements related to facilities,18 admitting privileges,19 and reporting.20 North Dakota law continues to restrict the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians.21 Although North Dakota law permits the use of medication abortion, North Dakota restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.22 Providers who violate North Dakota’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.23

Historical Restrictions

The state repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1973.24 Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,25 North Dakota attempted to enforce its 2007 trigger ban,26 which was subject to an injunction27 until the state repealed and replaced the trigger ban with the current total ban.28

North Dakota has repealed other laws related to abortion including the state’s gestational bans at six weeks, twenty weeks post-fertilization, the ban on D&E procedures, and the ban on abortions sought for reasons of sex or diagnosed or potential genetic abnormalities.29

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, North Dakota is enforcing a total abortion ban with limited exceptions.

  1. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.3-01(1). ↩︎
  2. Access Indep. Health Servs., Inc. v. Wrigley, 2025 ND 199, 28 N.W.3d 850 (2025); see also Wrigley v. Romanick, 2023 ND 50, 988 N.W. 2d 231 (2023). ↩︎
  3. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-19.1-02. ↩︎
  4. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-19.1-02; Access Indep. Health Servs., Inc. v. Wrigley, 2025 ND 199, 28 N.W.3d 850 (2025) (holding that the trial court’s judgment is void and reversed because the Supreme Court lacked a sufficient majority to hold the law unconstitutional); CBS News, North Dakota’s high court restores state abortion ban (Nov. 21, 2025), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-dakota-high-court-restores-state-abortion-ban/. ↩︎
  5. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-19.1-02–03 (including abortions necessary (1) to prevent the death or serious health risk of the pregnant person; and (2) to terminate a pregnancy that resulted from rape or incest if the probable gestational age is six weeks or less). . ↩︎
  6. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-19.1-03. ↩︎
  7. Access Indep. Health Servs. Inc v. Wrigley, No. 08-2022-CV-1608 (N.D. S. Cent. Dist. Ct. Sept. 12, 2024). ↩︎
  8. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-03(2). ↩︎
  9. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.6-02(1). ↩︎
  10. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-02.1-03(1), 14-02.1-02(9)(a), (b). ↩︎
  11. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-02(9)(a), (b). ↩︎
  12. N.D. Cent. Code. § 14-02.1-04(3). ↩︎
  13. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-02.3-01(3), 15-10-48(1)(b)(3), 15-10-49(1)(b)(3); N.D. Admin. Code 75-02-02-08(2)(i). ↩︎
  14. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.3-03. ↩︎
  15. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-03.1(1)(a). ↩︎
  16. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-03.1(2). ↩︎
  17. See N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14–02.1-05.2(1), 14-02.1-05.3(3), 14-02.1-04.2(2), 14-02.1-04.1(1), repealed by S.B. 2150, 68th Leg. Sess., Reg. Sess. (N.D. 2023). ↩︎
  18. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-04(2), invalidated by Miks v. Olson, No. CIV.A3-82-78, 1983 WL 869578, at *1 (D.N.D. Aug. 25, 1983); N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-04(3). ↩︎
  19. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-04(1). ↩︎
  20. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-07. ↩︎
  21. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-04(1). ↩︎
  22. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-03.5(5). ↩︎
  23. See, e.g., N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-02.1-03.2; 14-02.6-02(1). ↩︎
  24. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 12-25-01, 12-25-02 (1970), repealed by 1973 N.D. Laws 300, ch. 116, § 41. ↩︎
  25. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (June 24, 2022), rev’d Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265, 274 (5th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  26. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-31-12, amended by 2019 N. D. Laws ch. 126 (H.B. 1546), repealed by 2023 N.D. Laws ch. 122 § 11 (S.B. 2150). ↩︎
  27. Access Indep. Health Servs., Inc. v. Wrigley, No. 08-2022-CV-1608 (N.D. S. Cent. Dist. Ct. Oct. 31, 2022) (preliminarily enjoining the trigger ban); Wrigley v. Romanick, et al., 2023 N.D. 50, No. 20220260, 1 (N.D. Mar. 16, 2023) (leaving in place the preliminary injunction). ↩︎
  28. N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-19.1-02. ↩︎
  29. See N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14–02.1-05.2(1) (prohibiting abortion after detection of cardiac activity), 14-02.1-05.3(3) (prohibiting abortion at 20 weeks post-fertilization), 14-02.1-04.2(2) (prohibiting D&E procedures), 14-02.1-04.1(1) (prohibiting abortion for sex selection or genetic abnormality), repealed by S.B. 2150, 68th Leg. Sess., Reg. Sess. (N.D. 2023). ↩︎