North Dakota signs law banning all abortions after six weeks – including in rape and incest cases

North Dakota has adopted one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country – as Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation banning nearly all procedures.

The slim exception is if the abortion is performed in the first six weeks of pregnancy. In those early weeks, abortion would be allowed only in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency, such as ectopic pregnancy.

Most women do not realize they are pregnant by six weeks. Until now, procedures in the state had previously been legal until up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

‘This bill clarifies and refines existing state law … and reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state,’ Burgum said in a statement.

Last year’s US Supreme Court ruling overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide has triggered multiple state laws banning or restricting the procedure.

Many were met with legal challenges. Currently, bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy are in place in at least 13 states and on hold in others because of court injunctions.

On the other side, Democratic governors in at least 20 states this year launched a network intended to strengthen abortion access in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision that eliminated women´s constitutional right to end a pregnancy and shifted regulatory powers over the procedure to state governments.

The North Dakota law is designed to take effect immediately, but last month the state Supreme Court ruled a previous ban is to remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.

Last week, lawmakers said they intended to pass the latest bill as a message to the state’s high court signaling that the people of North Dakota want to restrict abortion.

Supporters have said the measure signed Monday protects all human life, while opponents contend it will have dire consequences for women and girls.

North Dakota no longer has any abortion clinics. Last summer, the state’s only facility, the Red River Women’s Clinic, shut its doors in Fargo and moved operations a short distance across the border to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal.

The clinic’s owner is still pursuing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of North Dakota’s previous abortion ban.

It´s expected that this new ban will also be the subject of legal challenges.

Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal, of Edinburg, sponsored the latest state legislation.

“North Dakota has always been pro-life and believed in valuing the moms and children both,” Myrdal said in an interview. ‘We’re pretty happy and grateful that the governor stands with that value.’

Democratic Rep. Liz Conmy voted against the bill and said she had hoped Burgum would not sign it.

“I don’t think women in North Dakota are going to accept this, and there will be action in the future to get our rights back,” Conmy said. ‘Our Legislature is overwhelmingly pro-pregnancy, but I think women in the state would like to make their own decisions.’

This comes just days after it was ruled that doctors in North Dakota who perform sex-change surgeries on children will face up to 10 years in jail.

Doug Burgum signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.

Gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the US for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations, but it has increasingly come under attack in many conservative legislatures.

America is a global outlier when it comes to medical interventions for children. The UK and Scandinavian countries are all pausing drugs for minors until doctors know more about the drugs, and the long-term risks of making irreversible changes to children’s bodies.

Under the new law, physicians face up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines for performing sex reassignment surgery on a minor and up to a year in prison and $3,000 in fines for giving gender-affirming medication, like puberty blockers, to a trans child.

The measure that Mr Burgum signed Wednesday received veto-proof support from GOP lawmakers — though some Republicans did vote against it, alongside all Democrats.