JUNE 13, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The clinic that was North Dakota’s sole abortion provider is challenging the state’s newest abortion laws as part of an ongoing lawsuit that calls the restrictions unconstitutional. Attorneys for the Red River Women’s Clinic and several physicians filed their amended complaint on Monday (June 12, 2023) in state district court. The lawsuit alleges the state’s new law that outlaws nearly all abortions “fragrantly violates” a court ruling supporting the right to obtain an abortion to preserve a patient’s life or health. The formerly Fargo-based Red River Women’s Clinic moved to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion is legal.
APRIL 24, 2023:
UNDATED (AP)- North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed legislation banning abortion in almost all cases. The new law prohibits all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Before then, only women or girls subject to rape, incest or who are suffering from narrowly defined medical emergencies would be allowed to end their pregnancies. After six weeks, even those exceptions disappear, making the North Dakota law one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. The bill’s sponsor says it will go into effect immediately. That’s despite a ruling last month from the North Dakota Supreme Court, which is blocking another ban on abortion in the state while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds.
APRIL 20, 2023:
UNDATED (AP)- North Dakota state senators are sending to Republican Gov. Doug Burgum a veto-proof bill that would ban abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. It would be one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Supporters say the bill would further the state’s mission to protect all human life, whereas opponents say it would have dire consequences for women and girls. The bill passed the Senate and House with veto-proof majorities, so it could become law without the governor’s approval. It’s been less than a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion.
APRIL 18, 2023:
UNDATED (AP)- Lawmakers in North Dakota’s House passed a bill Monday (April 17, 2023) that would criminalize abortions after six weeks of gestation — even in cases of rape or incest, the Bismarck Tribune reported. Opponents of the bill said six weeks is too early to ban abortions because many women don’t know they are pregnant by that time. Supporters of the bill said passing it would further the state’s tradition of protecting all life, including the unborn. The bill passed with a 76-14 vote, largely on party lines but with a few exceptions. The legislation still requires approval from the Senate and governor to become law.
MARCH 16, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a state abortion ban will remain blocked while a lawsuit over its constitutionality proceeds. The ruling came on Thursday (March 16, 2023). The ban was designed to take effect once the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But a district judge had put it on hold this summer while the Red River Women’s Clinic pursued a lawsuit arguing the state constitution protected a right to an abortion. The law is one of many abortion-restricting measures passed by state legislatures in anticipation of the high court’s decision. It includes exceptions to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest.
NOVEMBER 29, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An attorney for North Dakota has asked the state Supreme Court to strike down an injunction that had blocked the state’s abortion ban, saying a lower court judge was wrong to grant it. Attorney Matthew Sagsveen told justices on Tuesday (Nov. 29, 2022) that Judge Bruce Romanick “misconstrued the law” by granting the injunction. Romanick’s ruling means abortion is still legal in North Dakota, though the state’s only clinic has moved to neighboring Minnesota. Clinic Attorney Meetra Mehdizadeh argued that vacating the injunction would be “extraordinary.” She says patients, doctors and hospitals in North Dakota are still at risk even though the clinic has moved.
NOVEMBER 22, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota attorney general’s office says (Nov. 21, 2022) a judge did not use a “rational mental process” when determining there was a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the state’s abortion ban would succeed. The state says there are errors in South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick’s opinion that prevents the ban from going into effect until the heart of the lawsuit by a Fargo abortion clinic is resolved. Attorneys for the Red River Women’s Clinic says Romanick properly considered the arguments and there’s no need to “rectify errors and prevent injustice,” as the appeal requires. The state Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for next week on whether Romanick’s preliminary injunction putting the ban on hold should remain in place.
NOVEMBER 17, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota attorney general Drew Wrigley says doctors who perform abortions should be able to disclose the patient’s personal health information as part of their defense to avoid prosecution. North Dakota’s abortion ban, which is currently on hold because of a lawsuit, makes the procedure illegal except in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. Doctors would have to prove those exceptions in court in order to be cleared of a Class C felony. The attorney general said he couldn’t find any cases that address the scenario and it would not violate the privacy rule.
NOVEMBER 4, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s Supreme Court will hear arguments later this month on the state’s abortion ban after the attorney general appealed a judge’s ruling that kept it from taking effect. The high court has scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 29, 2022, on South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick’s opinion there’s a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the law will succeed. The legal wrestling continues even though the state’s lone abortion clinic, located in Fargo, has moved across the border to neighboring Minnesota. Romanick says there’s not a “clear and obvious answer” on whether North Dakota law bans abortion.
NOVEMBER 1, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge says he’ll keep the state’s ban on abortion from taking effect because there’s a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the law will succeed in court. Judge Bruce Romanick’s Monday (Oct. 31, 2022) ruling means abortion is still legal in North Dakota. However, Romanick said the question of whether abortion is a constitutional right in the state has not been decided. The state’s only clinic — the Red River Women’s Clinic of Fargo — closed as it challenged the ban and has moved across the the border to neighboring Minnesota.
OCTOBER 14, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota Supreme Court has extended the deadline for a lower court judge to reconsider his decision to prevent the state’s abortion ban from taking effect, after the judge cited workload and health factors. The state’s highest court earlier this week ordered Judge Bruce Romanick to weigh an abortion clinic’s chances of winning a lawsuit in reconsidering whether his decision to temporarily halt enforcement of the ban was correct. Romanick says the original Monday (Oct. 17, 2022) deadline was difficult “given the many duties of any judicial officer throughout the state.” To compound matters, he was diagnosed Thursday with COVID-19. The Supreme Court agreed and gave Romanick until Oct. 31, 2022, to decide the fate of the lawsuit arguing that the state’s constitution grants the right to abortion.
OCTOBER 12, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge who refused to allow the state’s abortion ban to take effect while a clinic’s legal challenge is pending has been ordered to take another look at that decision. The state Supreme Court late Tuesday (Oct. 11, 2022) ordered Judge Bruce Romanick to weigh the clinic’s chances of succeeding and reconsider whether his earlier decision was correct. Romanick last month denied a request to lift his stay of a law banning abortion while a challenge to the law’s constitutionality is pending. The Red River Women’s Clinic, the state’s only abortion clinic, argues that the state’s constitution grants a right to abortion. Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s argued that the judge didn’t sufficiently consider whether the clinic’s suit would succeed.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge has denied a request to lift his stay of a law banning abortion while a challenge to the law’s constitutionality is pending. Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick on Friday (Sept. 23, 2022) rejected Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s argument that he hadn’t sufficiently considered whether a Fargo abortion clinic would succeed with its lawsuit. The Red River Women’s Clinic argues that the state constitution grants a right to abortion. Though it continues to pursue that claim, it closed its Fargo location in August and opened a clinic in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal. When Romanick blocked the law from taking effect, he acknowledged the clinic had moved but noted that doctors and hospitals would still be affected by the statute.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota attorney general’s office has asked a judge to lift his stay on a trigger law banning abortion, arguing he failed to make the state’s lone abortion clinic show a likelihood of prevailing in the case. Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick last month granted the request for a preliminary injunction as part of a lawsuit brought by the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo. State lawyers argue the judge made no “findings towards the substantial probability of succeeding on the merits,” which is a factor needed to evaluate preliminary injunctions. The ban was set to take effect last month (August 2022).
AUGUST 26, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A judge has again blocked a trigger law banning abortion in North Dakota as he weighs a lawsuit from the state’s lone abortion clinic. The clinic argues that the law violates the state constitution. Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick on Thursday (Aug. 25, 2022) granted the motion for a preliminary injunction sought by the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo. The ban was set to take effect Friday. It’s the second time that Romanick has put the trigger ban on hold. He ruled last month that Attorney General Drew Wrigley was premature in setting a July 28, 2022, closing date. The clinic has already moved its services a few miles away to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal.
AUGUST 19, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawyers for North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic that two weeks ago closed its doors are asking a judge to delay the start of the state’s trigger law banning the procedure. The abortion ban is set to go into effect Aug. 26, 2022. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo argued Friday (Aug. 19, 2022) 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. The clinic has already moved its services from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal.
AUGUST 2, 2022:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Two North Dakota Democratic lawmakers are calling for an attorney general’s opinion on the state’s abortion restrictions. Reps. Zac Ista, of Grand Forks, and Karla Rose Hanson, of Fargo, , say clarity in needed to ensure care is not denied in or delayed in emergency situations. The request to Attorney General Drew Wrigley comes after a North Dakota judge last week put on hold the state’s trigger law banning abortion while a lawsuit moves forward that argues it violates the state constitution. Wrigley did not immediately return messages Monday (Aug. 1, 2022) seeking comment on whether he would issue an opinion.
JULY 28, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The owner and operator of North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic says a judge’s ruling that will delay the closing of the state’s lone abortion clinic should provide more than enough time for her to move it a few miles away to Minnesota. Red River Women’s Clinic director Tammi Kromenaker said Thursday (July 28, 2022) that she was prepared to reopen her Fargo clinic in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, next week if the state’s abortion ban had taken effect Thursday. She says now, she’ll have more time to ensure everything goes smoothly when she reopens in Moorhead, likely within the next month. Minnesota has become an island of legal abortion in the Upper Midwest.
JULY 28, 2022:
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Judges have blocked abortion bans set to take effect this week in Wyoming and North Dakota amid lawsuits arguing that the bans violate their state constitutions. A judge in Wyoming on Wednesday (July 27, 2022) sided with a firebombed women’s health clinic and others who argued the ban would harm health care workers and their patients, while a North Dakota judge sided with the state’s only abortion clinic. The court action puts those states among several where judges have temporarily blocked “trigger laws” meant to go in effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Wyoming law was set to take effect Wednesday. The North Dakota law was set to take effect Thursday. Elsewhere hundreds protested an abortion ban bill that advanced in the West Virginia Legislature.
JULY 26, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is preparing for what could be its final day of performing procedures. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo will offer abortion care on Wednesday (July 27, 2o22), and on Thursday a trigger ban is set to make abortion illegal in the state. Barring a judge’s intervention, it likely means an indefinite period when patients will be forced to travel hundreds of miles to receive care until the clinic can open in a new location just across the river in Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal. Clinic director Tammi Kromenaker has not said when the facility will be ready and did not respond to messages Tuesday.
JULY 20, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota attorney general’s office says a motion seeking to block enforcement of a so-called trigger law that would shut down the state’s lone abortion clinic should be denied. The state says the law was administered property by Attorney General Drew Wrigley. He certified a July 28, 2022, closing date shortly after a U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturned Roe v. Wade. The clinic says Wrigley was premature in starting the 30-day countdown and should have waited for the official judgment. The state says Wrigley met the only condition to shutting down the clinic, which was whether the high court’s ruling was clear. The motion is part of a lawsuit on the constitutionality of the ban. The clinic serves patients from the Dakotas and Minnesota.
JULY 7, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is suing to block enforcement of a trigger law banning abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo said in its court filing Thursday (July 7, 2022) that the ban violates the rights to life, safety and happiness guaranteed by the state constitution that protect the right to abortion. The suit also questions Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s statement that the ban takes effect July 28. The clinic argues that the Supreme Court has released its opinion but hasn’t yet issued its judgment. The clinic says that’s a separate step necessary to trigger the North Dakota law.
JUNE 28, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s attorney general says the state’s sole abortion clinic must shut down at the end of July, at which time patients will likely head across the Red River to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota. Attorney General Drew Wrigley says the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week that gives each state the right on whether to allow abortions means that the procedure will be outlawed in the state on July 28, 2022. He delivered his certification letter to the legislative council’s office Tuesday morning (June 28, 2022). Tammi Kromenaker, owner and operator of the Red River Women’s Clinic, plans to move the clinic from Fargo to Moorhead. A GoFundMe page meant to help with the move had raised more than $760,000 as of Tuesday morning.
JUNE 26, 2022:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A fundraising campaign to help North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic move a few miles away to Minnesota has raised more than half a million dollars in less than three days. The Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo will have to shut down in 30 days as part of the state’s trigger law. The law went into effect Friday (June 24, 2o22) when the U.S. Supreme Court removed the constitutional right to abortion. Tammi Kromenaker, owner and operator of the independent clinic, says she has secured a location in neighboring Moorhead but stated earlier that she didn’t know how she would fund the move. A GoFundMe page set up Thursday to benefit the transition had raised more than $515,000 from more than 6,000 donors as of late Saturday afternoon.
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