Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP)

North Dakota prohibits certain qualified health care professionals from performing abortions, and has an unconstitutional and unenforceable law that subjects abortion providers to burdensome restrictions not applied to other medical professionals.

Restrictions on Where Abortions May Be Performed

Among the most common TRAP regulations are those restricting the performance of abortions to hospitals or other specialized facilities, which require doctors to obtain medically unnecessary additional licenses, needlessly convert their practices to mini-hospitals at great expense, or perform abortions only in hospitals, an impossibility in many parts of the country.

North Dakota has an unconstitutional and unenforceable requirement that all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy be performed in a licensed hospital. N.D. Cent. Code § 14-02.1-04(2) (Enacted 1975; Last Amended 1979).

A federal court permanently enjoined the statute based on a stipulation that the law was unconstitutional under Akron v. Akron Ctr. for Reprod. Health, 462 U.S. 416 (1983), and other U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Miks v. Olson, No. A3-82-78 (D.N.D. Aug. 25, 1983) (stipulation for judgment).

Restrictions on Who May Perform Abortions

North Dakota prohibits certain qualified health care professionals from performing abortions.

Only a physician licensed by the state to practice medicine or osteopathy or employed by the United States using medical standards applicable to all other surgical procedures may perform an abortion. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 14-02.1-02(6), -04(1) (Enacted 1975).