The North Dakota Supreme Court has issued a ruling telling a local judge to reconsider his ruling blocking the state’s abortion ban that protects the lives of unborn children.
Last month, Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick rejected Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s request to lift the block on the ban so it can save babies from abortions while the case against it by an aboriton business that isn’t even located in the state anymore continues.
The Red River Women’s Clinic, the state’s only abortion company that has already relocated to Minnesota, claims the state constitution allows a right to abortion.
Because it has relocated out of state, the state Supreme Court ordered Romanick to reconsider his decision and evaluate the abortion company’s chance of succeeding. Here’s more:
The high court said in its ruling Tuesday that Romanick should “determine the substantial probability of succeeding on the merits and then to determine whether the injunction remains appropriate based on all the factors.”
Romanick is required to respond by Oct. 17.
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said Wednesday’s order from the high court is no surprise.
“This is entirely, if not embarrassingly, predictable,” Turley said. “Judge Romanick’s opinion was notably disconnected from the governing standard on preliminary injunctions. It was strikingly improvisational and the Supreme Court is ordering the court to return to the more scripted standard for such applications.”
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In a brief filed earlier, state lawyers contended that Romanick should lift the stay on the abortion ban because the state is likely to succeed in the case on appeal. But Romanick issued an order today saying that “the court is not convinced by the state’s argument that it was required to fully flesh out whether either party had a ‘substantial probability of succeeding’” in the case.
When Romanick blocked the law from taking effect, he acknowledged the abortion company had moved but said that doesn’t matter because the ban applies to anyone in the state.
The legislature approved the ban in 2007 and it protects babies from abortions starting at conception while allowing exemptions for very rare cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.
As LifeNews reported, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with a 6-3 majority ruling in the Dobbs case that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” — allowing states to ban abortions and protect unborn babies. The high court also ruled 6-3 uphold the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban so states can further limit abortions and to get rid of the false viability standard.
Chief Justice John Roberts technically voted for the judgment but, in his concurring opinion, disagreed with the reasoning and said he wanted to keep abortions legal but with a new standard.
Texas and Oklahoma had banned abortions before Roe was overturned and Missouri became the first state after Roe to protect babies from abortions and South Dakota became the 2nd. Then Arkansas became the third state protecting babies from abortions and Kentucky became the 4th and Louisiana became the 5th and Ohio became the 6th and Utah became the 7th and Oklahoma became the 8th and Alabama became the 9th. This week, Mississippi became the 10th and South Carolina became the 11th,Texas became the 12th with its pre-Roe law and Tennessee became the 13th.
Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia have old pro-life laws on the books but there is question about whether they are applicable and will be enforced.
Ultimately, as many as 26 states could immediately or quickly ban abortions and protect babies from certain death for the first time in nearly 50 years.
The 13 total states with trigger laws that would effectively ban all or most abortions are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
“Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” Alito wrote. “And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer authored a joint dissent condemning the decision as enabling states to enact “draconian” restrictions on women.
Polls show Americans are pro-life on abortion and a new national poll shows 75% of Americans essentially agree with the Supreme Court overturning Roe.
Despite false reports that abortion bans would prevent doctors from treating pregnant women for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, pro-life doctors confirm that is not the case. Some 35 states have laws making it clear that miscarriage is not abortion and every state with an abortion ban allows treatment for both.
