On Monday, North Dakota’s governor, Doug Burgum, signed into law a near-total abortion ban.
“This bill clarifies and refines existing state law . . . and reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state,” Burgum said in a statement to the Associated Press. Veto-proof majorities passed the bill in the state legislature, with the house passing it 76–14 and the senate approving it 42–5.
The law allows for exceptions in cases of rape and incest up to the six-week mark. Abortion is permitted without gestational limits to protect the life of the mother.
It is the latest abortion restriction enacted at the state level. Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week limit, also known as a heartbeat bill, into law earlier this month.
North Dakota’s preexisting abortion ban, a trigger law designed to go into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned, is currently blocked in court while its constitutionality is being considered.
“While the regulation of abortion is within the authority of the legislature under the North Dakota Constitution, [Red River Women’s Clinic] has demonstrated likely success on the merits that there is a fundamental right to an abortion in the limited instances of life-saving and health-preserving circumstances, and the statute is not narrowly tailored to satisfy strict scrutiny,” wrote Chief Justice Jon J. Jensen last month in the North Dakota supreme court’s ruling upholding the injunction.
Red River Women’s Clinic was the state’s only abortion provider until it shut its doors last summer and moved to Minnesota. It is still pursuing its legal challenge to the preexisting law.
North Dakota attorney general Drew Wrigley was critical of the ruling. “Since pre-statehood, the Dakota Territory and then North Dakota, have always recognized abortions may be utilized to protect the life of the mother…The North Dakota Supreme Court today chooses a path of its very own, by holding there is now also an un-defined ‘health’ exception to abortion regulation. Our Supreme Court did this without explicit support from our state Constitution, and without support from legislative enactments in our history of abortion regulation,” he wrote in a statement.
“In so doing, North Dakota’s Supreme Court appears to have taken on the role of a legislative body, a role our constitution does not afford them,” he added.
The new ban is designed to go into effect immediately. Lawmakers argued that it will send a message to the state’s supreme court, signaling the desire of the people of North Dakota and its representatives to restrict abortion.
“We’re going to send another message to the North Dakota Supreme Court. This is what this Legislature wants. We want pro-life in North Dakota,” said house majority leader Mike Lefor on the floor last week.
The new law is also expected to draw legal challenges.