Abortion in North Dakota

[6] SB 2150 was passed in response to this, making performance of an abortion is a Class C felony subject to a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both.

[8] Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota and Ohio all had statutes in 2007 that required specific informed consent on abortion but also, by statute, allowed medical doctors performing abortions to disassociate themselves with the anti-abortion materials they were required to provide to their female patients.

[9] North Dakota's informed consent materials included a definition for fetus stating it is "a Latin word meaning young one or offspring".

[16] In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) had provisions related to admitting privileges and licensing.

[14] Abortion in North Dakota remained legal following the United States' Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022.

[4][5] Under the trigger law, performance of an abortion is a Class C felony subject to a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both.

[20] On January 6 2023, Janne Myrdal, Keith Boehm, Larry Luick, Todd Porter (politician), Karen Rohr and Matthew Ruby introduced SB 2150[21] as an "emergency measure", banning all abortions with exception for health of the pregnant person, and rape or incest when under 6 weeks.

In January 2025, State Representative Lori VanWinkle filed HB 1373 which would effectively outlaw abortion as it grants fetal personhood.

The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.

[27] In 2025, the North Dakota Supreme Court denied the state government's request to reinstate the total ban.

[29] Around 1981, when the doctors in Grand Forks and Jamestown were getting close to an age where they would consider retiring, they reached out to Jane Bovard and asked her to open a clinic in Fargo.

She agreed and with the help of Susan Hill opened a Women's Health Organization affiliate in the fall of that year.

In 1991, the doctors in Grand Forks and Jamestown both retired, leaving the Women's Health Organization as the only abortion provider in the state.

[18] In 2016, only a small section of the state required women to drive fewer than 40 miles to access an abortion clinic.

[35] North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia were the only six states as of July 21, 2017, not to have a Planned Parenthood clinic that offered abortion services.

[43] out-of-state residents Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.

[47] Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, over 1,000 abortion rights protesters rallied and marched in Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks.