New laws imposing strict abortion limits fail in South Carolina and Nebraska, despite GOP majorities

[essentialsaltes]

Several Republican-led states have successfully pushed through abortion restrictions this year [2023], despite public opinion. In Wyoming and North Dakota, lawmakers passed new legislation outlawing almost all abortions.

Sep 12: BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban Thursday, declaring that broad guarantees of personal liberty in the constitution of his conservative, Republican-dominated state create a fundamental right to abortion before a fetus is viable.

 

[RileyG]

Sep 12: BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A state judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban Thursday, declaring that broad guarantees of personal liberty in the constitution of his conservative, Republican-dominated state create a fundamental right to abortion before a fetus is viable.

SMH

I thought North Dakota would be better than that.

Makes my heart hurt.

 

[Pommer]

SMH

I thought North Dakota would be better than that.

Makes my heart hurt.

The judge’s hands were tied by the fact that the law conflicted with the state’s constitution (which supersedes legislation):
”Besides ruling that the state constitution protects abortion access, District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law is unconstitutional because it is too vague to be enforced fairly. He agreed with critics who said the law wasn’t clear how its limited exceptions applied — allowing doctors to be prosecuted if other colleagues later disagreed with their medical decisions.

“We have been made to choose between saving a patient’s life and possibly facing jail time,” Dr. Ana Tobiasz, a fetal-maternal medicine specialist in the state capital of Bismarck, said during a Zoom news conference. “We are finally free to put our patients’ health first and offer patients the standard of care without fear of facing criminal prosecution.”

 

[RileyG]

The judge’s hands were tied by the fact that the law conflicted with the state’s constitution (which supersedes legislation):
”Besides ruling that the state constitution protects abortion access, District Judge Bruce Romanick also said that the law is unconstitutional because it is too vague to be enforced fairly. He agreed with critics who said the law wasn’t clear how its limited exceptions applied — allowing doctors to be prosecuted if other colleagues later disagreed with their medical decisions.

“We have been made to choose between saving a patient’s life and possibly facing jail time,” Dr. Ana Tobiasz, a fetal-maternal medicine specialist in the state capital of Bismarck, said during a Zoom news conference. “We are finally free to put our patients’ health first and offer patients the standard of care without fear of facing criminal prosecution.”

Ah, thanks for the reply and info.