A North Dakota law prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, far earlier than the national standard of 24 weeks, was blocked by a federal judge who called the law "clearly invalid and unconstitutional" on Monday, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
"The United States Supreme Court has unequivocally said that no state may deprive a woman of the choice to terminate her pregnancy at a point prior to viability," Judge Daniel Hovland wrote in his ruling. "North Dakota House Bill 1456 is clearly unconstitutional under an unbroken stream of United State Supreme Court authority."
The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by the Red River Women's Clinic, the only abortion clinic in the state of North Dakota. The lawsuit argued that many women are not even aware they are pregnant after six weeks and that banning abortions that early would place some women's health in danger, according to Reuters.
"The court finds the plaintiffs have established that they and their patients would be subjected to the threat of irreparable injury in the absence of a preliminary injunction," Judge Hovland wrote.
When the law was passed in March Jack Dalrymple, North Dakota's governor, seemed to know that the law was likely to face a court action, according to the Washington Post.
"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Dalrymple said in March.
The Center for Reproductive Rights brought the lawsuit to court on behalf of the clinic. Bebe Anderson, the director of the U.S. Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights, was very pleased by the decision.
"Today's decision ensures for the moment that the women of North Dakota won't need to worry whether they will still have the same constitutionally protected rights as women living in other parts of the United States," Anderson said.
The North Dakota law was one of many laws restricting abortion rights that have been passed in the last year by Republican led state legislatures. After calling two special sessions of the legislature in order to do so, Texas passed a law limiting abortions to within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy last week. Arkansas passed a law limiting abortions to within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in March and a federal judge blocked the law in May, according to Reuters.
