Just one day before it was set to take effect, a county judge has sided with an abortion facility and blocked the trigger law in North Dakota.
Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick granted an injunction due to a lawsuit filed by Red River Women’s Clinic. It was the only abortion facility in North Dakota, until they relocated across state lines into Minnesota. Tammi Kromenaker, director of the facility, told the Washington Post, “It’s like night and day between Minnesota and North Dakota.”
Despite the fact that they are no longer operating in North Dakota, Romanick agreed with the abortion facility that the trigger law would cause “significant harm” if it was allowed to take effect, and acknowledged their move in the ruling, arguing that the law protecting preborn children from abortion could hurt medical providers and pregnant women in North Dakota if allowed to take effect.
READ: North Dakota’s last abortion facility raises $1 million to move to Minnesota
Meetra Mehdizadeh, a staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who is representing Red River Women’s Clinic, celebrated the ruling in a statement to CNN. “This trigger law completely disregards the health care needs of pregnant people and punishes doctors for providing critical, life-saving services to their patients,” she said. “State lawmakers have been so hellbent on cutting off abortion access that they are trampling the North Dakota Constitution.”
Kromenaker also added that she was “relieved and grateful” to know abortion will remain legal, for now, in North Dakota. “North Dakotans can rest easy knowing they still have bodily autonomy rights,” she said.
This is the second time Romanick has kept the trigger law from taking effect. In July, he ruled that it was unconstitutional, claiming Attorney General Drew Wrigley “prematurely attempted to execute” the trigger language in the law, as the official Supreme Court judgment had not been issued yet. Wrigley responded by saying he recertified the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which is what pushed the date for it to take effect to August 26.
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