Lawyers argue to delay North Dakota law banning abortion

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawyers for North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic that two weeks ago closed its doors asked a judge Friday to delay the start of the state’s trigger law banning the procedure.

The abortion ban is set to go into effect on Aug. 26. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo argued for a preliminary injunction as part of a lawsuit that says the ban violates the state constitution.

Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick said he would make a decision on the motion by the end of next week.

Romanick put the trigger ban on hold last month when he ruled that Attorney General Drew Wrigley was premature in setting a July 28 closing date. The judge issued a temporary restraining order that in effect gave the Fargo clinic time to transition to a new location in nearby Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal, even as it seeks to block the ban.

The clinic’s lawsuit argues that the state constitution’s guarantees of rights to life, liberty, safety and happiness effectively guarantee a right to abortion.

The Legislature passed North Dakota’s trigger law in 2007 to kick in if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturned its 1973 ruling establishing nationwide abortion rights. The high court did so in June.

The trigger ban would put into effect laws that would make abortion illegal in the state except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother, all of which would have to be proven in court. Otherwise, a doctor who performs an abortion would face a felony.

Whether North Dakota’s constitution protects a right to abortion has come before state courts before. A Cass County judge ruled that a 2011 law aimed at regulating medication abortions was unconstitutional, saying it essentially eliminated the procedure and illegally restricted abortion rights.

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