BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) 鈥� A state judge struck down North Dakota's ban on abortion Thursday, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable.
In his ruling, state District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law violates the state constitution because it is too vague.
Romanick was ruling on a request from the state to filed against the ban by what at the time was the sole abortion clinic in North Dakota. The clinic has sinced moved across the border to Minnesota, and the state argued that a trial wouldn't make a difference. The judge had canceled a trial set for August.
Romanick cited how North Dakota Constitution鈥檚 guarantees 鈥渋nalienable rights,鈥� including 鈥渓ife and liberty.鈥�
鈥淭he abortions statutes at issue in this case infringes on a woman鈥檚 fundamental right to procreative autonomy, and are not narrowly tailored to promote women;s health or to protect unborn human life,鈥� Romanick wrote in his 24-page order. 鈥淭he law as currently drafted takes away a woman鈥檚 liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.鈥�
Romanick was first elected a district judge in heavily-GOP North Dakota in 2000 and has been reelected every six years since, most recently in 2018. Before he was a judge, he was an assistant state's attorney in Burleigh County, home to the state capital of Bismarck.
The judge acknowledged in his ruling that in the past, the North Dakota courts had previously relied on federal court precedents on abortion, but said those state precedents had been 鈥渦pended鈥� by the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 2022 decision to and allow states to ban abortion under the U.S. Constitution.
Romanick said he鈥檇 been left with 鈥渞elatively no idea鈥� how the North Dakota Supreme Court would address the issue, and so his ruling was his 鈥渂est effort鈥� to 鈥渁pply the law as written to the issue presented鈥� while protecting the fundamental rights of the state鈥檚 residents.
鈥淧regnant women in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability exists under the enumerated and unenumerated interests provided by the North Dakota Constitution,鈥� the judge wrote.
In many respects, Romanick's order mirrors one from the Kansas Supreme Court in 2019, declaring access to abortion a fundamental right under similar provisions in that state's constitution, though the Kansas court did not limit its ruling to before a fetus is viable. in an August 2022 statewide vote.
Romanick concluded that the law is too vague because it does not set clear enough standards for determining whether exceptions apply, leaving doctors open to being prosecuted because others disagree with their judgments.
The Red River Women鈥檚 Clinic, which was North Dakota鈥檚 sole abortion provider, the original lawsuit in 2022 against the state鈥檚 now-repealed trigger ban, weeks after the fall of Roe v. Wade. The clinic afterward from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota.
In 2023, North Dakota鈥檚 Republican-controlled Legislature the state鈥檚 abortion laws, making abortion legal in pregnancies caused by rape or incest, but only in the first six weeks of pregnancy. Under the revised law, abortion was allowed later in pregnancy only in specific medical emergencies.
Soon after that, the clinic, joined by several doctors in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine, an amended complaint. The plaintiffs alleged the abortion ban violates the state constitution because it its unconstitutionally vague about its exceptions for doctors, and that its health exception is too narrow.
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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writer Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.
Jack Dura And John Hanna, The Associated Press
