BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s abortion ban will not be enforced while the state appeals an earlier decision that found it unconstitutional, the state’s highest court ruled Friday.
That appeal has yet to be fully acted upon in the state Supreme Court after a judge struck down the law in September.
North Dakota no longer has an abortion provider since its sole abortion provider moved from Fargo to the neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota hospital in 2022.
The plaintiffs had argued that it was vital to prevent enforcement of the lifted ban on patients with pregnancy complications who go to a hospital to receive medical care that might be delayed under the law.
State prosecutors had asked the North Dakota Supreme Court to grant a stay pending an appeal. They said a stay was “warranted because, among other things, this case raises serious, difficult and unresolved constitutional questions that are of great importance to the people of this state.”
U.S. District Judge Bruce Romanick had previously denied a requested stay, saying, “It would be foolish for this court to leave in effect pending appeal a law that it has found unconstitutional.”
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the abortion clinic and several doctors who challenged the law, opposed a stay. The court heard oral arguments on the state’s request for a stay in November.
“Today’s decision to uphold the abortion ban was the only logical outcome,” Meetra Mehdizadeh, the center’s senior attorney, said in a statement. “People are dying without access to abortion, and yet the state tried to stop pregnant North Dakotans from doing so.” They end up in perilous situations when they don’t get the care they need. It’s shameful. We will not stop fighting until this ban is lifted once and for all.”
In a statement, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said: “This is a decision only on the stay request, not on the constitutional merits of the legislation. North Dakota will continue to work to fully litigate this matter before the state Supreme Court. We want to establish that the law passed by our legislature is clearly constitutional.”
The case has taken a winding course since the Red River Women’s Clinic initially challenged the state’s previous abortion ban following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade had tipped in 2022.
In 2023, North Dakota’s Republican-controlled legislature overhauled the state’s abortion laws. This law made it a criminal offense to perform an abortion, with the sole exception of saving a mother’s life or preventing a “serious threat to her health.” The ban also allowed abortions in cases of rape or incest, but only up to the sixth week of pregnancy, which is often before many women even realize they are pregnant. The plaintiffs said the law was unconstitutional and that the health exception was too narrow.
Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal, who introduced the 2023 bill that became law, said she did not view Friday’s decision as a setback.
“It doesn’t reflect the validity of the constitutionality of the law … and I don’t actually interpret that fact any further,” Myrdal said.
Judge Douglas Bahr denied the state’s request for a stay. In an email to The Associated Press citing the state’s judicial ethics code, Bahr said he represented the state as attorney general in a previous Supreme Court case involving the clinic.
A spokesman for the Center for Reproductive Rights said the clinic has no current plans to return to North Dakota.
