North Dakota’s courts have already rejected the idea of a right to abortion in the state Constitution

1

MINOT, N.D. — News broke yesterday that North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is filing suit to challenge the state’s ban on abortions which was triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The argument made in the suit is that there is a right to an abortion in the state Constitution despite the fact that, much like the U.S. Constitution, no word of our state document was ever written with the intent to create such a right.

What the Red River Women’s Clinic and its lawyers are hoping for is to convince some judges to create law where the state Legislature, and the people of North Dakota, have not.

But the North Dakota Supreme Court has already ruled on the question of a right to an abortion in the state Constitution, and they didn’t find one.

Or, at least, there wasn’t a sufficient majority on the court to find one.

Continue reading…