North Dakota Trigger Ban on Abortion
In 2007, the North Dakota Legislature passed House Bill 1466. This bill would ban all abortions in North Dakota, making no reasonable exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the woman. Representatives Kerzman and Metcalf and Senators Christmann and Erbele sponsored the bill.
Unlike the attempted South Dakota ban, which would have been effective almost immediately, the abortion ban in North Dakota is effective when the Attorney General concludes that it would likely be upheld as constitutional. Laws including such stipulations are known as "trigger bans." The Bill was passed in the House by a margin of 42 votes and in the Senate by a margin of 16.
Currently, four states have passed have trigger bans that automatically ban abortion if Roe were to be overturned. Thirteen states retain their unenforced, pre-Roe abortion bans. North Dakota's trigger ban is the most extreme because it:
This law would restrict a doctor's ability to treat a patient and do what is necessary to save the life of a woman. If a doctor is prosecuted for performing an abortion, they must prove that the woman's life was in danger or that the pregnancy was a result of ‘sexual imposition.' This intrusion by the government upon the doctor patient relationship does nothing to prevent the need for abortion, but rather sets up more roadblocks for women seeking safe, legal abortion care and attempts to criminalize the doctors providing it.
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Unlike the attempted South Dakota ban, which would have been effective almost immediately, the abortion ban in North Dakota is effective when the Attorney General concludes that it would likely be upheld as constitutional. Laws including such stipulations are known as "trigger bans." The Bill was passed in the House by a margin of 42 votes and in the Senate by a margin of 16.
Currently, four states have passed have trigger bans that automatically ban abortion if Roe were to be overturned. Thirteen states retain their unenforced, pre-Roe abortion bans. North Dakota's trigger ban is the most extreme because it:
- requires the physician to claim an affirmative defense that the abortion was necessary to protect the woman's life, or in cases or rape or incest
- doesn't allow a woman to terminate if she is experiencing a high-risk pregnancy
- doesn't allow women to terminate even if conditions in pregnancy make it impossible for a fetus to survive outside the womb
This law would restrict a doctor's ability to treat a patient and do what is necessary to save the life of a woman. If a doctor is prosecuted for performing an abortion, they must prove that the woman's life was in danger or that the pregnancy was a result of ‘sexual imposition.' This intrusion by the government upon the doctor patient relationship does nothing to prevent the need for abortion, but rather sets up more roadblocks for women seeking safe, legal abortion care and attempts to criminalize the doctors providing it.
Sign up to receive alerts on the North Dakota abortion ban, as well as other reproductive rights issues.
