Courage and independent thinking show up at unexpected times and unexpected places. That was the case today in North Dakota, where a judge overturned the state’s near-total ban on abortion. It was the second time he had thrown out the ban. After the first time, the legislature revised the ban and passed it again.

Kate Zernike of The New York Times wrote the story:

A North Dakota judge overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban on Thursday, saying that the State Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion until the fetus was viable.

“The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference,” wrote Judge Bruce Romanick of the district court in Burleigh County. 

The judge, who was elected to his position, also ruled that the law violated the State Constitution’s due process protections because it was too vague in how it defined exceptions to the ban.

The decision is almost certain to be appealed. And while the judge’s order means that abortion will become legal soon, the procedure will remain unavailable because the only clinic in the state has closed, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the suit in 2022 on behalf of that clinic.

The Red River Women’s Clinic, the state’s last remaining provider of abortion services, closed in August 2022 and relocated to Moorhead, Minnesota.