Judge denies request to lift stay of ND abortion trigger ban

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge on Friday denied a request to lift his stay of a law banning abortion while a challenge to the law’s constitutionality is pending.

Burleigh County District Judge Bruce Romanick rejected Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s argument that he hadn’t sufficiently considered whether a Fargo abortion clinic would succeed with its lawsuit.

The Red River Women’s Clinic, the state’s only abortion clinic, argues that the state’s constitution grants a right to abortion. Though it continues to pursue that claim, it closed its Fargo location in August and opened a clinic in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion remains legal.

When Romanick blocked the law from taking effect, he acknowledged the clinic had moved but noted that doctors and hospitals would still be affected by the statute.

Romanick said at the time he was not ruling on the probability of the clinic winning the lawsuit, but that more time was needed to make a proper judgment.