Current:Home > StocksPhysicians, clinic ask judge to block enforcement of part of a North Dakota abortion law-LoTradeCoin
Physicians, clinic ask judge to block enforcement of part of a North Dakota abortion law
View Date:2024-12-24 07:19:43
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Physicians and the former, sole abortion provider in North Dakota on Tuesday asked a judge to block enforcement of part of a revised law that bans most abortions, saying a provision that allows the procedure to protect a woman’s health is too vague.
North Dakota outlaws all abortions, except in cases where women could face death or a “serious health risk.” People who perform abortions could be charged with a felony under the law, but patients would not.
Tuesday’s request for a preliminary injunction asks the state district court judge to bar the state from enforcing the law against physicians who use their “good-faith medical judgment” to perform an abortion to treat pregnancy complications that could “pose a risk of infection, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, or which otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe.”
The doctors and clinic are asking the injunction to remain in place until their suit against the full law goes to trial next year.
Physicians have perceived the law’s language for “serious health risk” to be “so vague” that they “don’t know at what point a condition rises to the level of being what the statute calls a ‘serious health risk,’” Center for Reproductive Rights attorney Meetra Mehdizadeh told The Associated Press.
“Physicians want to be able to provide treatment for their patients before their health declines and before they experience serious and potentially life-threatening complications,” she said. “Because of the restrictions placed on abortion access in North Dakota, they don’t know whether they can do that legally.”
The state’s revised abortion law also provides an exception for pregnancies caused by rape and incest, but only in the first six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. It also allows for treatment of ectopic and molar pregnancies, which are nonviable situations.
The Red River Women’s Clinic sued the state last year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned the court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion. The lawsuit targeted the state’s since-repealed trigger ban — a ban designed to go into effect immediately if the court overturned Roe v. Wade — as unconstitutional. The clinic moved last year from Fargo, North Dakota, to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal.
A judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the ban from taking effect last year, which the state Supreme Court upheld in March. In April, the Republican-led Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill revising the state’s abortion law.
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed that bill into law in late April. In June, the clinic filed an amended complaint, joined by several doctors in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine. A jury trial is scheduled for August 2024.
Chief Justice Jon Jensen wrote in the court’s March decision that “it is clear the citizens of North Dakota have a right to enjoy and defend life and a right to pursue and obtain safety, which necessarily includes a pregnant woman has a fundamental right to obtain an abortion to preserve her life or her health.”
Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, who sponsored the bill, called Tuesday’s filing “sad” and said it could have come earlier.
“We can do a lot better in North Dakota than what these people who are suing us are intending to do, so we’re going to stand firm and continue to protect life,” she told the AP.
The Associated Press sent a text message to North Dakota Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley seeking comment.
___
Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
veryGood! (366)
Related
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul stirs debate: Is this a legitimate fight?
- Copa America live updates: Uruguay vs. Colombia winner tonight faces Argentina in final
- Former Nashville Predators captain Greg Johnson had CTE when he died in 2019
- Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield Prepare to Break Hearts in Gut-Wrenching We Live in Time Trailer
- Jerry Jones lashes out at question about sun's glare at AT&T Stadium after Cowboys' loss
- A troubling first: Rising seas blamed for disappearance of rare cactus in Florida
- Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed as Japan’s Nikkei 225 hits a new high, with eyes on Fed
- 5 boaters found clinging to a cooler in Lake Erie are rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter crew
- Former Disney Star Skai Jackson Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Her Boyfriend
- Spain vs. France Euro 2024 highlights: 16-year-old Lamine Yamal's goal lifts Spain to final
Ranking
- US inflation may have picked up in October after months of easing
- A gunman killed at a Yellowstone dining facility earlier told a woman he planned a mass shooting
- 'It's absolutely nothing': Cowboys QB Dak Prescott dismisses concerns about ankle
- Wisconsin secretary of state settles open records lawsuit brought by conservatives
- Taylor Swift's Mom Andrea Gives Sweet Nod to Travis Kelce at Chiefs Game
- It is way too hot. 160 million under alert as heat breaks records and a bridge
- Save Big on the Cutest Kate Spade Bags You'll Wear Every Day, Including $71 Crossbodies in so Many Colors
- Carol Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi's mother, dies at 83
Recommendation
-
Taylor Swift's Dad Scott Swift Photobombs Couples Pic With Travis Kelce
-
Carol Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi's mother, dies at 83
-
Messi’s 109th goal leads defending champion Argentina over Canada 2-0 and into Copa America final
-
Dartmouth College Student Won Jang Found Dead in River
-
The charming Russian scene-stealers of 'Anora' are also real-life best friends
-
Kevin, Frankie Jonas on their childhood, 'Claim to Fame' Season 3
-
How many points did Caitlin Clark score? Fever rookie tallies double-double vs. Mystics
-
Beat the Heat With These Cooling Beauty Products From Skin Gym, Peter Thomas Roth, Coola, and More