Federal judge overturns North Dakota six-week abortion ban

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a North Dakota law banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they're pregnant.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, who is based in Bismarck, N.D., said the law is "invalid and unconstitutional" and that it "cannot withstand a constitutional challenge."

"The state of North Dakota has presented no reliable medical evidence to justify the passage of this troubling law," he added.

The state attorney general said he was looking at whether to appeal the decision.

Supporters of the measure have said it was meant to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks. Opponents say it's an attempt to shutter the Red River Clinic, the state’s only abortion facility.

North Dakota is among several conservative states that have passed new abortion restrictions in recent years, but abortion rights supporters called North Dakota's fetal heartbeat law the most restrictive in the country.

A fetal heartbeat law passed in Arkansas, for example, would ban abortions at 12 weeks into pregnancy, but it was overturned by another federal judge. The state's attorney general has said he will appeal.

North Dakota's heartbeat measure was among four anti-abortion bills that Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed into law last year with overwhelming support from the state's Republican-led Legislature.

Backed by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, the Red River Clinic in Fargo filed a lawsuit against the heartbeat law last July. The clinic's closing would leave the closest alternate clinics about 250 miles away in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., or in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Hovland said the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized for more than 40 years the constitutional right of women to end a pregnancy before the fetus is determined to be viable, and the federal court is obligated to uphold that precedent.

Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, praised Hovland's ruling.

"The court was correct to call this law exactly what it is: a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women," Northrup said in a statement. "But women should not be forced to go to court, year after year in state after state, to protect their constitutional rights. We hope today's decision, along with the long line of decisions striking down these attempts to choke off access to safe and legal abortion services in the U.S., sends a strong message to politicians across the country that our rights cannot be legislated away."

Last year, lawmakers in oil-rich North Dakota allocated $400,000 that was requested by Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to defend against any lawsuits arising from the state's new abortion laws.

Stenehjem told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he needed to read Hovland's ruling and talk to the governor and others before deciding what the state will do next.

"There are those who believed that this was a challenge that could go to the Supreme Court," Stenehjem said. "Whether or not that's likely is something we need to confer about."

Wire services