The abortion ban was signed into law in April 2023 just weeks after the North Dakota Supreme Court vacated a similar law restricting abortion access. That law, adopted by the Legislature in 2007, went into effect after Roe v. Wade was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

Romanick ruled that the abortion ban "is unconstitutionally void for vagueness," and that pregnant patients in North Dakota have a fundamental right to abortion before

The state of North Dakota is asking a Burleigh County judge to let an abortion ban law remain in effect while it appeals the judge’s recent decision allowing access to abortion in the state.