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N.D. (AP) – As oil-rich North Dakota moves toward outlawing most abortions, it’s in a better position than most states for what could be a long and costly court battle over its restrictions.
Lawmakers on Friday sent the Republican governor two anti-abortion bills. One bans the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The other prohibits women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect. They would give North Dakota the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S.
Abortion-rights activists have promised a legal battle if the measures become law.
Supporters of the anti-abortion measures say they want to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.
As the full Senate was preparing to vote on whether the bill should be divided, Senator Connie Tripplet, a Democrat from Grand Forks, left the Senate chamber, halting the proceedings. Senate rules require Senators to be formally excused. Tripplet had minutes earlier spoken out against the bill. The full Senate ended up passing a motion to formally excuse Tripplet from the proceedings.
The president and CEO of an abortions right group is calling on North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple to veto a bill that passed the Legislature Friday that would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The measure approved by the North Dakota Senate on a 27-15 vote Friday would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. That can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. If signed, North Dakota would have the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S.
Nancy Northup is the president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. She says politicians in North Dakota are leading “anti-choice extremists to see who can do the most to strip women of their dignity and autonomy and endanger their lives.”
Anti-abortion supporter Bismarck state Senator Margaret Sitte, a Republican, said men outnumber women in places like China and India because of gender-selected abortions.
But Senator Carolyn Nelson, a Democrat from Fargo, says aborting a fetus based on gender is not an issue in North Dakota. She said the sole clinic in North Dakota providing abortions has said it has had no women seek an abortion based on gender in 15 years.
Both measures passed in the North Dakota House and Senate and the bill now lay on Governor Dalrymple’s desk awaiting a signature of approval or a veto.