On September 12, 2024, a North Dakota court struck down the state’s near-total abortion ban as unconstitutional. The Weil pro bono team, alongside the Center for Reproductive Rights and Gender Justice, filed this lawsuit in 2023 on behalf of Red River Women’s Clinic, its medical director Dr. Kathryn Eggleston, Dr. Ana Tobiasz, Dr. Erica Hofland, and Dr. Collette Lessard. Abortion care will now be legal in the state, increasing access for people across the Midwest, especially for those who need lifesaving or health-preserving abortion care.

“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,” Judge Bruce Romanick’s opinion reads. “This section necessarily and more specifically protects a woman’s right to procreative autonomy – including to seek and obtain a pre-viability abortion.” The court held that (1) the North Dakota Amended Abortion Ban, codified as N.D.C.C. 12.1-19.1, is unconstitutionally void for vagueness, and (2) pregnant patients in North Dakota have a fundamental right to choose abortion before viability exists under the North Dakota Constitution.