US District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck granted a temporary injunction today that blocks the law from taking effect on August 1.
"There is no question that (the North Dakota law) is in direct contradiction to a litany of United States Supreme Court cases addressing restraints on abortion," Hovland wrote.
" (It) is clearly an invalid and unconstitutional law based on the United States Supreme Court precedent in Roe v. Wade from 1973 ... And the progeny of cases that have followed."
The law was one of four that the Republican-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple passed this year that combined make North Dakota the most restrictive state in the nation in which to get an abortion.
Bebe Anderson, director of the US Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights, praised Hovland's ruling in a statement today.