FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2013
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Washington, D.C. – Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, sharply criticized Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R-ND) for signing a bill into law that could effectively ban abortion in the state.
This bill outlaws abortion as early as six weeks—before many women even know they are pregnant. It would be the earliest abortion ban in the country, and has no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
“There’s a startling trend of anti-choice politicians attempting to send women back to a pre-Roe era, and North Dakota just topped the list,” Hogue said. “To deny women options to care before they even know they’re pregnant is just plain cruel. Adding insult to injury, even survivors of rape or incest would have no control over their own bodies if their attack resulted in a pregnancy. This law could force women to take drastic steps with no other option than unsafe, illegal abortion.”
North Dakota now surpasses Arkansas, whose legislature overrode its governor’s veto to enact a 12-week abortion ban, as the state with the harshest anti-abortion bill signed into law in the country.
Hogue continued, “Forty years ago, the highest court in the land recognized that women have the right to choose safe and legal abortion without government interference—period. Those who attempt to deny or restrict access to this care have no regard for the lives of the women they were elected to serve.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
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