North Dakota’s new law bans almost all abortions

North Dakota’s new abortion legal guidelines at the moment are among the many most draconian within the US.

Reaffirming North Dakota “as a pro-life state,” its Republican governor Doug Burgum signed an abortion ban at six weeks of being pregnant into regulation yesterday (April 24).

Whereas pro-life activists are celebrating the choice, critics are anxious in regards to the sweeping damaging penalties on the lives of women and girls. The window is exceptionally slim, given that almost all girls solely discover out they’re pregnant between 4 and 7 weeks after their final menstrual interval.

In accordance with its textual content, the regulation goes into impact instantly. However in actuality, it will likely be on maintain, owing to an injunction from North Dakota’s Supreme Courtroom, which is presently contemplating a petition over the regulation’s constitutionality. Last week, lawmakers stated they deliberate to cross the invoice simply to ship a message to the courtroom in regards to the individuals of North Dakota wanting to limit abortion.

One small quantity: Abortion clinics in North Dakota

0: The variety of abortion clinics in North Dakota. It’s one in every of 14 US states that don’t have abortion suppliers. The state’s sole facility, the Purple River Ladies’s Clinic (RRWC), shut its doorways in Fargo and relocated a brief distance throughout the border to Moorhead, Minnesota, final summer time. RRWC is pursuing a lawsuit arguing that the state’s structure protects the proper to an abortion. The North Dakota Supreme Court has blocked the abortion ban till a verdict is reached.

A quick timeline of abortion entry in North Dakota

2007: The state legislature approves North Dakota’s set off ban, which makes it a felony for anybody to carry out an abortion.

2013: North Dakota approves essentially the most restrictive “heartbeat” abortion regulation within the US—a measure banning the process most often as soon as a fetal heartbeat might be detected, which usually occurs as early as six weeks. A second invoice that bans abortions on the grounds of sex-selection or genetic abnormalities can be signed into regulation.

June 2022: The US Supreme Courtroom overturns Roe v Wade, the 1973 determination that legalized abortion within the nation. It triggers a number of state legal guidelines banning or proscribing the process.

July 2022: RRWC launches a lawsuit arguing that the North Dakota state structure protects the proper to an abortion. A district courtroom places the set off ban, which is meant to enter impact on Aug. 26, on maintain.

February 2023: Democratic governors in 20 states launch a community to defend and increase abortion entry.

March 2023: The state’s Supreme Courtroom upholds the decrease courtroom’s momentary block of the set off regulation.

April 2023: Governor Burgum indicators into regulation an abortion ban after six weeks besides in circumstances of rape or incest, or to save lots of the lifetime of the mom in circumstances of, say, ectopic or molar pregnancies. Any of those exceptions would have to be confirmed in courtroom.

Mapped: Abortion insurance policies throughout the US…if North Dakota’s six-week ban is enacted

Quotable: Backlash for North Dakota’s abortion ban

“I don’t suppose girls in North Dakota are going to simply accept this, and there will probably be motion sooner or later to get our rights again. Our Legislature is overwhelmingly pro-pregnancy, however I believe girls within the state want to make their very own selections.” —Liz Conmy, a Democratic member of North Dakota’s Home of Representatives

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