Abortion has been banned again in North Dakota after a court overturned a previous judge’s decision

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Abortion is once again illegal in North Dakota after the state Supreme Court on Friday was unable to muster the majority needed to uphold a judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s ban last year.

The law makes it a criminal offense for anyone to have an abortion, although it specifically protects patients from prosecution. Doctors can be prosecuted and punished with up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Three justices agreed that the ban was unconstitutionally vague under the state constitution. The other two judges said the law was not unconstitutional.

The state constitution requires at least four of the five justices to agree to find a law unconstitutional, which is high. Not enough members of the court came together to affirm the lower court’s ruling.

North Dakota Republican Attorney Drew Wrigley welcomed the ruling, saying, “The Supreme Court upheld this important pro-life legislation, enacted by the popular Legislature. The Attorney General’s Office has formal responsibility for defending North Dakota’s laws, and today these laws were upheld.”

Republican state Sen. Jan Myrdal, who introduced the 2023 legislation that became law banning abortion, said she was “pleased and grateful that two highly respected judges saw the truth of the matter, that this is absolutely constitutional for the mother and for the unborn child and for this.”

The ruling means access to abortion in North Dakota will be prohibited. Even after a judge struck down the ban earlier last year, the only scenarios for a patient to have an abortion in North Dakota were for life or health-preserving reasons in the hospital.

The sole abortion provider in 2022 moved from Fargo to nearby Moorhead, Minnesota.

Justice Daniel Crothers, one of the three justices who voted against the ban, wrote that the district court’s decision was not wrong.

“The ambiguity in the law concerns when an abortion can be performed to preserve the life and health of the mother,” Crothers wrote. “After this invalid provision is repealed, the remaining parts of the law will become unenforceable.”

North Dakota’s newly confirmed ban makes it a criminal offense to perform an abortion. The only exceptions are for rape or incest in the first six weeks – before many women know they are pregnant – and to prevent death or a “serious health risk” to the mother.

North Dakota joins 12 other states with abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy. Another four prohibit it at or around six weeks gestational age.

Justice Bruce Romanek struck down the ban passed by the state Legislature in 2023, less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door to statewide bans, shifting the abortion fight largely to state courts and legislatures.

Red River Women’s Clinic — previously the only abortion clinic in North Dakota — and several doctors have challenged the law. The state appealed the 2024 ruling that overturned the ban.

The judge and Supreme Court rejected the state’s requests to keep the abortion ban in place during appeal. Center for Reproductive Rights lawyer Mitra Mehdizadeh said earlier that these decisions allowed patients with pregnancy complications to seek care without fear of delays due to the law.