Lawmakers in North Dakota advanced an abortion bill Monday that seeks to ban the procedurewith few exceptions.
The state House passed SB 2150 with a vote of 76-14, mostly along party lines, which makes performing or aiding an abortion a class C felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000.
According to the language in the bill, the pregnant woman would not be charged.
The only exceptions are if the mother's health or life are in danger and in cases of rape or incest, but only up until six weeks' gestation, before many women know they're pregnant.
Additionally, the state's Department of Health & Human Services will be required to publish material on services that can assist a woman through pregnancy, color photographs documenting the development of a fetus, material on the "long-term risks" of an abortion and the possibility of reversing an abortion.
