BISMARCK — The North Dakota Legislature passed a bill Wednesday, April 9, that would require physicians to watch a video about the state’s abortion laws before performing the procedure, sending it to the governor for final approval.
House Bill 1511 allocates up to $50,000 from the Office of Business and Management budget to contract with an OB-GYN with at least 25 years of experience to create the video and put it on the state medical board’s website.
After it was approved by the House in February, the bill went to the Senate, where it was amended to add a section providing the video is updated to reflect changes to the state’s abortion law.
It was also changed to apply to all physicians, not just OB-GYNs, and to remove a mandate for the video to be part of continuing education requirements for physicians.
The Senate approved the bill and its changes in early April with a 41-5 vote, sending it to the House, which passed it on Wednesday with a 72-17 vote after minimal discussion.
Abortion is currently legal in North Dakota after a district judge struck down the 2023 abortion ban in September 2024.
In 2023, then-Gov. Doug Burgum, enacted a law fully banning abortion with exceptions for cases of rape and incest, applying only if a person has been pregnant for six weeks or less, or if the pregnancy seriously threatens person's physical health.
The state Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether to uphold the law after the state appealed the September ruling.
Hospitals are currently the only places in North Dakota where a person could legally undergo the procedure after the Red River Women’s Clinic — formerly the state’s sole abortion provider — moved from Fargo to Minnesota following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
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To track this bill, readers can download North Dakota Legislative Daily — a free app available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
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