A judge in North Dakota ruled the state’s abortion ban—which banned abortion with few exceptions after six weeks—violated the state’s constitution and was too vague, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed the ban into law last year, which outlawed abortions, with exceptions for rape or incest up until six weeks, and the only exception after that point is if an abortion would “prevent the death or a serious health risk.”
North Dakota District Judge Bruce Romanick struck down the ban in a ruling issued Thursday, saying the ban was “unconstitutionally void for vagueness” and “pregnant women in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability exists,” according to the North Dakota Monitor.
The ruling stemmed from a request by the state for Romanick to throw out a lawsuit from a North Dakota abortion clinic that since moved to Minnesota and was challenging the state’s ban.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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“Before viability, unborn human life is not a sufficient justification to interfere with a woman’s fundamental right to happiness, to preservation of her own mental health and well-being, and to life-saving and health-preserving medical care,” Romanick wrote in the ruling.