Victory in North Dakota! Abortion Will Again Be Legal in the State
In a case brought by the Center and its partners, court rules North Dakota’s near-total abortion ban unconstitutional.
Abortion will again be legal in North Dakota after a state court ruled yesterday that the state’s near-total abortion ban is unconstitutional. The case challenging the ban was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners on behalf of a North Dakota abortion provider and its physicians.
Abortion has been illegal in North Dakota since April 2023, when the ban took effect.
“This is a win for reproductive freedom, and means it is now much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota,” says Meetra Mehdizadeh, staff attorney at the Center. “Hospitals and doctors no longer have their hands tied and can provide abortions to patients with complications.”
According to the ruling, North Dakota’s abortion ban violates the state constitution due to its narrow and vague exceptions and because the ban violates the right to reproductive autonomy.
The opinion by Judge Bruce Romanick stated, “The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health, and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference. This section necessarily and more specifically protects a woman’s right to procreative autonomy—including to seek and obtain a pre-viability abortion.”
Read the full opinion here.
Ruling by Judge Bruce Romanick declaring North Dakota’s abortion ban unconstitutional, 09.12.24.
Ban Enacted After State’s “Trigger” Ban Was Blocked
In March 2023, the North Dakota Supreme Court blocked the state’s “trigger ban”—which was enacted in 2007 to outlaw most abortion services in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—because it did not allow for life- or health-preserving abortions. The following month, North Dakota lawmakers passed another total abortion ban, which was the ban at issue in this decision.
Plaintiffs argued that the amended ban was unconstitutionally vague and made it impossible to interpret the confusing language about when medical exceptions were allowed. The ban’s limited and confusing exceptions for health or life gave physicians no clear guidance on how to determine whether a patient was “sick enough” to qualify for abortion care.
This left physicians who provided abortions with the threat of having to defend their decision in court if someone were to question the provider’s judgment. Violating the ban was considered a class C felony, punishable by a maximum of five years of imprisonment, a fine of $10,000, or both.
State’s Ban Forced Clinics to Close
Abortion clinics in North Dakota were forced to close after the state’s amended abortion ban took effect in 2023.
“There are no abortion clinics left in North Dakota. That means most people seeking an abortion still won’t be able to get one, even though it is legal,” said Mehdizadeh. “Clinics are medical facilities that need to acquire doctors, staff, equipment—they can take years to open, like most healthcare centers.”
“The damage that North Dakota’s extreme abortion bans have done cannot be repaired overnight,” added Mehdizadeh.
Tammi Kromenaker, Director of Red River Women’s Clinic, a plaintiff in the case, said, “Today’s decision gives me hope. I feel like the court heard us when we raised our voices against a law that not only ran counter to our state constitution but was too vague for physicians to interpret and which prevented them from providing the high-quality care that our communities are entitled to.”
“Abortion is lifesaving health care; it should not be a crime. I look forward to a new future in North Dakota and hope our lawmakers will finally give up on their crusade to force pregnancy on people against their will,” added Kromenaker.
The abortion ban will be enjoined in the coming days and the ruling is likely to be appealed.
The lawsuit challenging North Dakota’s abortion ban was filed in 2023 by the Center for Reproductive Rights; Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; and Gender Justice on behalf of Red River Women’s Clinic, its medical director Dr. Kathryn Eggleston, Dr. Ana Tobiasz, Dr. Erica Hofland, and Dr. Collette Lessard.
Abortion Laws by State
Find out where in the U.S. abortion is banned—and where it’s protected.
In the U.S., 18 states currently ban abortion completely or after six weeks of pregnancy—before many know they are pregnant. While most of those bans have very narrow exceptions to save the life of the pregnant patient, those exceptions have not been working in practice. Doctors are unclear who qualifies for the exceptions, and they are terrified to perform any abortions as they face years in prison for violating the bans.
The Center is currently litigating several more cases seeking to clarify the “medical emergency” exceptions under state abortion bans and to broaden the circumstances in which physicians can provide abortions. The cases were brought on behalf of physicians and dozens of women denied abortion care despite facing dangerous and severe pregnancy complications. Read about those medical exceptions cases here.
Case background and details
Access Independent Health Services, Inc., d/b/a Red River Women’s Clinic v. Drew H. Wrigley
