Gov. Doug Burgum signs off on revisions to North Dakota abortion laws

BISMARCK — Gov. Doug Burgum on Monday, April 24, signed a bill revising North Dakota's near-total abortion ban, including provisions that aim to address doctors' fears of prosecution and to respond to a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

The bill takes effect as law immediately and is bound to become part of an ongoing lawsuit over the state's ban.

“This bill clarifies and refines existing state law which was triggered into effect by the (U.S. Supreme Court) Dobbs decision and reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state,” Burgum said in a statement.

Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, has said her Senate Bill 2150 is to clear up language in the state's 2007 trigger ban and 2013 "heartbeat bill" in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

The Senate passed the bill 42-5, and the House of Representatives passed it 76-14.

The court's Dobbs decision triggered North Dakota's ban, which prohibits virtually all abortions but is temporarily blocked in state district court amid a lawsuit from what was the state's sole abortion provider.

The "heartbeat bill" bans abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected — as early as six weeks, when some women don't yet know they're pregnant — “except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance” with the law. Attorney General Drew Wrigley is appealing a federal block on the law in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

Under the abortion ban, doctors could be charged with a Class C felony for performing an abortion during medical emergencies and in cases of rape or incest, but they could argue in court that the affirmative defenses for rape, incest and protection of the life of a mother outlined in the law protect them from criminal liability.

The new law changes the ban's affirmative defenses into exceptions, which supporters say would take the legal burden off medical providers.

The new law allows for treatment of ectopic pregnancies, a dangerous, nonviable scenario in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, and molar pregnancies, a nonviable, rare complication involving a tumor forming in the uterus.

The new law also allows for abortions for rape and incest, but only before six weeks gestation. Myrdal has said "this was already law, no changes."

Democrats and some Republicans in the Legislature have opposed the six weeks provision as insufficient for women and young girls who might not know they are pregnant after being raped.

The Red River Women's Clinic is challenging the trigger law. The clinic was North Dakota's sole abortion provider before moving last summer from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota, where there are no laws against abortion.

The lawsuit continues in state district court after the state Supreme Court's March ruling upholding a judge's temporary block of the trigger law.

Chief Justice Jon Jensen wrote in the court's majority opinion, "The North Dakota Constitution guarantees North Dakota citizens the right to enjoy and defend life and the 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."

The law also creates a new chapter in statute for its provisions, and redefines a "medical emergency" as a "serious health risk."

Molar pregnancy treatment and "serious health risk" were amendments in response to the ruling, said Rep. Robin Weisz, R-Hurdsfield.