In this situation, a judge situated in North Dakota annulled the region's limitation on abortions.
In his judgement, District Judge Bruce Romanick of the state, declared that the law goes against the state constitution due to its vagueness.
Under the jurisdiction of the judge, abortion would be legal in North Dakota, however, the state currently lacks clinics offering these services, and the Republican-led government is expected to challenge the ruling.
The state's sole abortion provider used to be the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, but it shifted its location to Moorehead, Minnesota, in 2022, following the US Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortion. Director Tammi Kromenaker mentioned there are no plans to restart operations in North Dakota, but the decision instils hope.
"We feel like the court listened to our concerns and those of the physicians in North Dakota regarding a law that we considered to be excessively stringent," she stated.
Governor Doug Burgum's and Attorney General Drew Wrigley's offices in the Republican party did not immediately react to the judgement, but Wrigley's office promised a statement.
Romanick was referring to the state's request to dismiss a 2022 lawsuit filed by the Red River clinic, following its relocation. The state argued that a trial would be unnecessary, leading to the cancellation of the planned August trial.
Romanick cited the North Dakota Constitution's guarantees of "inalienable rights," including "life and liberty," in his 24-page judgement.
"Abortion laws in this case infringe on a woman's fundamental right to reproductive autonomy and are not precisely tailored to enhance women's health or protect unborn human life," he wrote. "The law, as currently written, diminishes a woman's liberty and her right to pursue and acquire safety and happiness."
Meetra Mehdizadeh, a staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which supports abortion rights and challenges state restrictions, stated the ruling "makes it much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota." However, she mentioned that clinics can take years to establish.
"The detrimental effects of abortion bans are felt long after they are overturned," she said.
Judge Romanick was first elected in 2000 and has been re-elected every six years since, most recently in 2018. Prior to being a judge, he served as an assistant state's attorney in Burleigh County, which houses the state capital of Bismarck.
Romanick acknowledged in his judgement that in the past, North Dakota courts have relied on federal court precedents regarding abortion but stated that these precedents had been "upended" by the US Supreme Court's landmark 2022 abortion ruling.
Romanick expressed that he was unsure how the North Dakota Supreme Court would handle the issue, leading him to issue this judgement as his "best attempt" to uphold the law while safeguarding the fundamental rights of the state's residents.
"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," the judge wrote.
In several ways, Romanick's judgement mirrors one from the Kansas Supreme Court in 2019, proclaiming access to abortion a fundamental right under similar provisions of that state's constitution, although the Kansas court did not limit its ruling to pre-viability. Kansas voters also upheld this stance in an August 2022 statewide vote.
Romanick concluded that the law is unclear because it does not establish clear enough standards for applying exceptions, leaving doctors vulnerable to prosecution due to differing opinions.
In 2023, North Dakota's Republican-controlled Legislature revised its abortion laws, making abortion legal in pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, but only during the initial six weeks. Only in specific medical emergencies could abortion be permitted later in pregnancy.
Shortly after, the clinic, along with several doctors specializing in obstetrics, gynecology, and maternal-fetal medicine, filed an amended complaint. The plaintiffs claimed the ban violated the state constitution because it was vague concerning doctor exceptions and had an excessively narrow health exception.
Romanick acknowledged that when North Dakota became a state in 1889, its founders likely would not have recognized abortion access as a right under the state constitution, but added, "women were not treated as full and equal citizens."
The judge asserted that examining history and tradition might lead people to realize "there was a time when we erred, and when women did not have a voice."
"This should not continue forever, and the sentiments of the past need not dictate the present forever," he concluded.
Despite the Judge's ruling making abortion legal under certain circumstances, the Republican-led government in North Dakota might choose to appeal the decision, affecting 'us' and the access to abortion services in the state.
Given the history of the state, where women were not treated as full and equal citizens when it became a state, Judge Romanick emphasized that it's important to reevaluate traditions and ensure 'our' rights are not dictated by past sentiments forever.
