North Dakota is looking at using legislation to prevent abortions from being carried out in the state, and consider it a felony to do such a procedure, reports say.
Performing abortion is one of the pressing issues in North Dakota that lawmakers threw the weights behind the House bill 1313 that would treat getting an abortion in the state as if it's legally murdering an unborn child.
House Bill 1313 was introduced by Representative Jeff Hoverson, also a pastor, who said that abortion is a longshot and he believes that it is a humanitarian issue to challenge abortion rights, Christian Post reported.
"I think it's long past due that we've got to start listening to the babies. Any human that would have compassion would not want to see a baby die that way, but it's not because some religion taught me. It's everything from humanity to common sense. I think even an atheist could come to that." Hoverson said.
It utilizes the non-clinical term "human dismemberment abortion." The procedure has an exception for when it is "to save the life of the pregnant woman," but is not applicable if it is for other reasons.
"A person that intentionally or knowingly aids, abets, facilitates, solicits, or incites another person to commit an abortion is guilty of a class C felony," which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000, the bill reads. Doctors, if convicted to having done the procedure, could also lose their license to practice medicine.
North Dakota passed this bill in 2013, including one that would have restricted abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be recognized, which can occur before a woman realizes she is pregnant. The U.S. High Court's 1973 decision authorized early termination up until a baby is viewed as reasonable, as a rule at 22 to 24 weeks.
In addition to the 2013 "heartbeat bill," North Dakota lawmakers have strict anti-abortion legislation in which they approved a measure in 2019 that required doctors to tell women that they may reverse a drug-induced abortion if they wish to change their minds. Liz Brocker, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said that the law is as yet a matter of the forthcoming case.
On the contrary, Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at the New York-based Guttmacher Institute said that there is no medical evidence to support the claim that the procedure can be reversed.
The legislation tries to add early termination to the state's previous laws against killing an unborn kid, which in present status law excludes fetus removal when performed by an authorized specialist.
"Lawmakers also passed a bill that bars doctors from using scissors, clamps, and forceps to remove fetuses from the womb during the second trimester of pregnancy. That law has not been challenged in the courts," Liz Brocker told the Brainerd Dispatch.
Hoverson, who introduced HB 1313, also said anti-abortion advocates like himself are tired of waiting for the high court to act.
"I don't trust the Supreme Court - they are holding us hostage," Hoverson told the Associated Press. "I want North Dakota to take this matter into our own hands."
