North Dakota judge strikes down the state’s abortion ban

BISMARCK, ND — A state judge in North Dakota on Thursday struck down the state’s abortion ban, saying the state constitution enshrines a fundamental right to abortion before a fetus is viable.

In his ruling, District Judge Bruce Romanick also said the law violates the state Constitution because it is too vague.

Romanick ruled on a request from the state to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the ban in 2022 by what was then North Dakota’s only abortion clinic. The clinic has since moved to Minnesota, and the state argued that a lawsuit would not make a difference. The judge canceled a trial scheduled for August.