North Dakota’s Only Abortion Clinic Stays Open After Judge’s Ruling
A North Dakota judge Wednesday halted the imminent implementation of a law that threatened to shut down the state’s only abortion clinic by mandating that physicians involved in the practice have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
The preliminary injunction blocks the law, SB 2305, from going into effect as scheduled on Thursday.
“This is not meant to denigrate the deep and profound convictions of those who oppose abortion, but nothing can be gained by fueling the passions that drive this ‘intensely divisive controversy,’” Judge Wickham Corwin said in his ruling.
The ruling makes SB 2305 the latest North Dakota law on abortion that a court has blocked in recent weeks.
A federal judge earlier this month temporarily blocked the enforcement of a law banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
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