BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota judge has ruled against blocking a section of a state law that physicians argue could lead to prosecution if they perform an abortion to safeguard a patient’s life or health. State District Judge Bruce Romanick stated that a preliminary injunction was inappropriate, allowing the lawsuit to proceed, with a jury trial scheduled for August.
The legal challenge sought to prevent the enforcement of the law against doctors who, based on their “good-faith medical judgment,” perform an abortion due to complications posing a risk of infection, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, or other conditions making the pregnancy unsafe.
Attorney Meetra Mehdizadeh, representing the Center for Reproductive Rights, argued that physicians faced the threat of criminal prosecution while treating patients with medical complications. Mehdizadeh expressed disappointment in the ruling but emphasized that the court did not address the constitutional questions at the core of the case.
North Dakota permits abortion only in cases where women face death or a “serious health risk.” The law imposes felony charges on those performing abortions but exempts patients. The judge clarified that the plaintiffs sought to alter the application of the exception from “reasonable medical judgment” to “good faith medical judgment” through the injunction, a request lacking legal basis.
The state’s abortion laws, revised in 2023, include exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest within the first six weeks, as well as for nonviable situations like ectopic and molar pregnancies.
Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, a proponent of the revised laws, applauded the judge’s decision, noting that the legislation provides clarity for physicians and aligns with legislative intent.
The legal battle emerged in 2022 when the Red River Women’s Clinic sued the state following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The lawsuit challenged the state’s trigger ban, repealed later, as unconstitutional. The clinic, now in Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion is legal, obtained a preliminary injunction against the trigger ban in 2022.
In response, North Dakota’s Legislature revised abortion laws in April 2023. In June, the clinic filed an amended complaint, joined by several medical professionals, renewing the legal challenge.