With demons whispering into his dark heart, state District Judge Bruce Romanick overturned North Dakota’s abortion ban on Thursday, decreeing that the state’s constitution guarantees a fundamental right to have an abortion before fetal viability and that the current law violates a woman’s right to pursue happiness, which an abortion would bring her. He wrote in his 24-page order:
“The abortions statutes at issue in this case infringe on a woman’s fundamental right to procreative autonomy, and are not narrowly tailored to promote women;s health or to protect unborn human life. The law as currently drafted takes away a woman’s liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.”
At present, North Dakota does not have any independent abortion clinics but does have hospitals where abortions can be had in cases of rape and incest before the six-week mark, as well as in instances where the life of the mother is threatened, such as an ectopic pregnancy.
In a statement provided to the AP, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley insisted that the judge’s decision contained “flaws in his analysis,” and that the Republican-dominated government plans to appeal:
“Judge Romanick’s opinion inappropriately casts aside the law crafted by the legislative branch of our government and ignores the applicable and controlling case law previously announced by the North Dakota Supreme Court.”
