North Dakota judge strikes down the state’s abortion ban

Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state judge has struck down North Dakota’s ban on abortion, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable. State District Judge Bruce Romanick also said Thursday that the law violates the state constitution because it’s too vague. Under the judge’s order, abortion would be legal in North Dakota, but the state currently has no clinics performing them. Republican officials are expected to appeal. Romanick was ruling on the state’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by what at the time was the sole abortion clinic in North Dakota. The clinic has sinced moved to Minnesota.