North Dakota judge strikes down the state's abortion ban
Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2024, 01:23 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
Updated 1:09 PM EDT, September 12, 2024
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) A state judge struck down North Dakotas ban on abortion Thursday, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable. In his ruling, state District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law violates the state constitution because it is too vague.
Romanick was ruling on a request from the state to dismiss a 2022 lawsuit filed against the ban by what at the time was the sole abortion clinic in North Dakota. The clinic has sinced moved across the border to Minnesota, and the state argued that a trial wouldnt make a difference. The judge had canceled a trial set for August.
Romanick cited how North Dakota Constitutions guarantees inalienable rights, including life and liberty. The abortions statutes at issue in this case infringes on a womans fundamental right to procreative autonomy, and are not narrowly tailored to promote women;s health or to protect unborn human life, Romanick wrote in his 24-page order. The law as currently drafted takes away a womans liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.
Romanick was first elected a district judge in heavily-GOP North Dakota in 2000 and has been reelected every six years since, most recently in 2018. Before he was a judge, he was an assistant states attorney in Burleigh County, home to the state capital of Bismarck.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-abortion-law-ban-ruling-30fedd2e4dec03da43bd3bcce60f867b
Breaking. Short article at post time.
Article updated.
Original article -
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) A state judge struck down North Dakotas ban on abortion Thursday, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable.
In his ruling, state District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law violates the state constitution because it is too vague.
Romanick was ruling on a request from the state to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the ban in 2022 by what at the time was the sole abortion clinic in North Dakota. The clinic has sinced moved across the border to Minnesota, and the state argued that a trial wouldnt make a difference. The judge had canceled a trial set for August.
Attilatheblond
(3,689 posts)Bev54
(11,412 posts)The aholes are relentless
Dr. Shepper
(3,049 posts)This winter-spring. We have an every other year legislature.
Probatim
(2,887 posts)Does he kick it back to them for a rewrite to "promote unborn human life"?
Bayard
(23,553 posts)Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2024, 04:21 PM - Edit history (1)
I doubt this "life and liberty" ruling is unique, but in my layman's opinion, could be very useful in how it might apply to other states or even the U.S. Constitution's amendments laying out the prohibtion of deprivations of "life, liberty, or property".
In this case, it's not "life then liberty". It is "life AND liberty". A ruling for either life or liberty cannot exclude the other because both terms are mutually inclusive. Unless legislation is adopted to distinguish the two, both terms carry equal weight, IMO.
So yes, this is big.
calimary
(83,441 posts)and through every voting demographic!
iluvtennis
(20,474 posts)ShazzieB
(17,973 posts)As things now stand in this country, a victory like this is always going to be temporary. This will be appealed, for sure.
But even a temporary victory like this is a victory for sanity, rationally, and the rights of women to be fully recognized as autonomous human beings, and it deserves to be celebrated as such.
We can celebrate winning a battle while at the same time knowing that the war is far from over.