State District Judge Bruce Romanick has issued a notice that an upcoming trial over a lawsuit challenging a North Dakota law protecting most preborn children from abortion has been canceled and removed from the calendar.
It’s not known for now what the cancellation of the trial means, but Romanick, in his only statement, said he said he would issue “full findings on summary judgment and/or a new notice of trial as soon as possible following this Notice.”
In April of 2023, Governor Doug Burgum signed SB 2150 into law, which protects most preborn children from abortion (with exceptions included for those conceived in rape and incest) during the first six weeks of gestation. In the text of the law, abortion is specifically defined as an act that carries “the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman… with knowledge the termination by those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child.” It includes exceptions for women facing “death or a serious health risk” throughout pregnancy.
A lawsuit was filed in November, with several physicians and the Red River Women’s Clinic, a former abortion facility, asking for an injunction to be placed on a specific portion of the law. This portion would penalize doctors for committing abortions for pregnancy complications that “pose a risk of infection, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, or which otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe.” The group claimed that the language is “so vague” that they “don’t know at what point a condition rises to the level of being what the statute calls a ‘serious health risk.’” They also claimed the law was unconstitutional.
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But in January, Romanick refused to block the law, saying the group had no authority to request an injunction. He had previously granted an injunction against North Dakota’s trigger law, which took effect after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. After the Supreme Court upheld Romanick’s decision, the state legislature passed the new law to replace it.
Last week, the court heard arguments regarding whether or not the case should be dismissed, with Special Assistant Attorney General Dan Gaustad arguing that the plaintiffs’ case rests entirely on hypotheticals; that Red River Women’s Clinic, which is now operating in Minnesota, has no standing to sue; and that a trial over the issue isn’t necessary. “You’re not going to get any more information than what you’ve got now. It’s a legal question,” he said.
