North Dakota Reinstates Strict Abortion Ban After Court Deadlock

North Dakota’s abortion ban is back in effect after the state Supreme Court on Friday failed to reach the four-justice supermajority required to strike it down — a decision that may influence ongoing debates and access issues across neighboring states, including Wyoming.

The five-member court split 3–2, with three justices finding the law unconstitutionally vague and two concluding it was constitutional. But under North Dakota’s unusually high standard for overturning laws, at least four justices must agree. The court’s deadlock means last year’s district court ruling blocking the ban cannot stand.

North Dakota’s law is now among the most restrictive in the nation. It makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine — though patients themselves cannot be prosecuted. The only exceptions allow for cases of rape or incest within the first six weeks of pregnancy and situations where the patient faces death or a “serious health risk.”

Wyoming Watches Closely

The ruling comes as Wyoming continues to grapple with its own abortion ban, which remains tied up in ongoing litigation. Like North Dakota, Wyoming lawmakers passed a sweeping ban following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. And while Wyoming’s courts have paused portions of its law, the legal battle remains far from settled.

For patients in northeastern Wyoming — especially in places like Sheridan, Gillette, and the Bighorn Basin — North Dakota’s ruling removes yet another potential option for out-of-state care. The only former abortion provider in North Dakota relocated to Moorhead, Minnesota, in 2022, leaving a vast regional gap in access across the Northern Plains and Rockies.

Wyoming providers and reproductive-health advocates say they are already seeing increased cross-border travel. North Dakota’s ruling is expected to intensify that trend.

Justice Jerod Tufte, writing in support of the ban, said the state constitution’s 1889 protections for “natural rights” do not extend to abortion, and that the law “provides adequate and fair warning” to doctors.

But Justice Daniel Crothers, among the three justices who voted against the law, argued that the statute is too vague for physicians to safely interpret. Uncertainty about when a doctor may legally intervene to protect a patient’s health, he wrote, leaves the rest of the law “inoperable.”

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley welcomed the ruling, praising the court for letting the Legislature’s “pro-life legislation” stand.

Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal — architect of the 2023 ban — said she was “thrilled and grateful” that the law survived the challenge.

Reproductive-rights organizations described the ruling as “devastating.”
“This cruel and confusing ban is incomprehensible to physicians,” said Meetra Mehdizadeh of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Abortion is health care, and North Dakotans deserve clarity — not prison threats.”

A Growing Patchwork Across the West

With North Dakota’s ban reinstated, the upper Midwest and western Plains now feature a sharp legal divide:

• Total abortion bans: North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho
• Bans currently blocked in court: Wyoming
• Nearest states with broad access: Minnesota and Colorado

For Wyoming residents — especially those in regions far from Denver or Billings — North Dakota’s decision further shrinks the map of nearby states where timely care is available.

Legal experts say the ruling is likely to influence legislative and judicial debates across conservative states vying to define how far abortion restrictions can go — Wyoming included.