BISMARCK, N.D. — The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to review lower court rulings overturning North Dakota’s ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
The justices turned away the state’s appeal of decisions striking down the 2013 fetal heartbeat law as unconstitutional. The law never took effect, and abortion-rights supporters said it was the strictest anti-abortion measure in the country.
The high court last week rejected Arkansas’ bid to enforce its own fetal heartbeat law, banning some abortions at 12 weeks. Both measures had been struck down by a unanimous panel of three judges appointed by President George W. Bush to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
