A judge in the US state of North Dakota has struck down a law banning almost all abortions there, saying it was “too vague” and violated women’s human rights.
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The Republican governor of this northern state, Doug Burgum, signed this law into law in April 2023, prohibiting abortion under penalty of five years in prison for doctors, with rare exceptions, notably in cases of serious risks to the health of the mother, rape or incest. But in these last two cases, it is prohibited beyond six weeks of pregnancy.
The conservative state of about 800,000 is among about 20 that have banned or severely restricted abortions following the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that struck down the federal guarantee of abortion rights. In reversing half a century of precedent, the Supreme Court has given states full latitude to legislate in this area.
Judge Bruce Romanick struck down the North Dakota law on the grounds that it was “unconstitutionally vague” and that “pregnant women in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose to abort before viability” under the protections afforded to all citizens by the state constitution.
The Center for Reproductive Rights hailed in a statement “a victory for reproductive rights that means it’s much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota,” but stressed that “the damage done by the ban cannot be undone overnight.”
The last abortion clinic still operating in the state has moved to neighboring Minnesota.
