State of North Dakota secondary Archives: on Abortion
Doug Burgum:
Support a ban on abortions for things like gender selection
On abortion, Burgum told me that America before the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision was a "dangerous place for women." He also said he doesn't feel qualified to make a decision on when life begins.
Had Burgum been governor, he would have vetoed all but one of the pro-life laws passed by the state Legislature in recent years. He supports the legislation that bans abortions for things like gender selection.
Source: Grand Forks Herald on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Jan 24, 2016
Doug Burgum:
Law requires doctors to say some abortions reversible
Burgum signed a bill requiring physicians to inform women that it may be possible to reverse a drug-induced abortion. A Republican lawmaker said it would give a woman "the full information she needs to make her own decision."
Burgum echoed that sentiment. "If it gives hope to even one person who has started the process and wants to try to reverse it, it is worth providing that information," he said.
Source: Fargo-Moorhead Forum on 2020 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Mar 22, 2019
Dustin Peyer:
Government has no role in woman's choice
Women refuse to go back to the days of risking their lives or even imprisonment for wanting to end an unwanted pregnancy. The government has no right to dictate when a woman can or cannot procreate.
Abortion is ultimately the decision of the woman's, and no one else's. The radical right-wing attacks to defund Planned Parenthood has got to end. It is a source of sexual health information and a vital healthcare service for millions of women.
Source: 2018 North Dakota Senatorial website PeyerForSenate.org
Oct 1, 2017
Eliot Glassheim:
Pro-choice, but parental notification is ok
Q: Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? ?A: Pro-choice.
Glassheim adds, "Parental notification is ok.
Various churches take different positions on when life begins. One view should not impose its will on all the other religious positions."
Source: VoteSmart 2016 North Dakota Political Courage Test
Aug 8, 2016
Heidi Heitkamp:
Opposed 20-week abortion ban
The Senate voted on the 20-week abortion ban, and Heitkamp joined nearly all of her Democratic colleagues in opposing it, despite having promised her constituents that she'd support it.Not only that, but C-SPAN cameras caught Heitkamp high-fiving
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Senate floor just after the vote. PolitiFact assessed the moment as being "more of an awkward greeting than a crude celebration," but to many constituents, it appeared tone-deaf and even offensive.
After that vote, on February 15, Rep, Kevin Cramer entered the race, immediately making it the most-discussed Senate contest of the midterm cycle, and rightly so.
North Dakota has just one member in the House. As a result, Cramer has already
represented the entire state in Congress since 2012, the year that both he and Heitkamp were first elected (she in a close contest against Republican Rick Berg). In that election, Cramer received 12,000 more votes than she did.
Source: National Review on 2018 North Dakota Senate race
Jun 27, 2018
Heidi Heitkamp:
Fund Planned Parenthood but don't fund abortions
Q: Abortion: Mostly ban or mostly legal?Kevin Cramer (R): Ban. "Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned abortion on demand. & we wonder why our culture sees school shootings so often."
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Mostly legal. "Reproductive decisions should be left to a woman, her family, & her doctor." But opposes public funding & supports state's right to mandate parental consent for minors & to restrict partial-birth abortions.
Q: Let Planned Parenthood receive public funds for non-abortion health care?
Kevin Cramer (R): No. Co-sponsored bill to defund.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Yes. Voted against numerous bills aimed at defunding.
Q: Allow employers to withhold contraceptive
coverage from employees if disagree with it morally?
Kevin Cramer (R): Yes. Requiring contraceptive coverage infringes upon religious freedoms.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): No. Keep ACA requirement that insurance plans provide non-copay contraception.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on North Dakota Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Kevin Cramer:
Announced for Senate due to incumbent's pro-choice vote
Kevin Cramer wasn't supposed to run for the Senate. In fact, as recently as January, the Republican congressman from North Dakota had publicly announced that he was happy representing his state in the House and would not accept the GOP nod to challenge
Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp this fall.The president called to say he was disappointed. "I hope you don't disappoint me again," Cramer tells me Trump said to him at the time. "Start thinking more about your country and less about yourself."
For Cramer, one of the very first Republican politicians to endorse Trump during his 2016 run for president, the pointed message was difficult to ignore.
Then, just a week or two later, the Senate voted on the 20-week abortion ban, and Heitkamp joined
nearly all of her Democratic colleagues in opposing it, despite having promised her constituents that she'd support it.
After that vote, Cramer says, he was inundated with calls from North Dakotans demanding that he jump in to challenge Heitkamp.
Source: National Review on 2018 North Dakota Senate race
Jun 27, 2018
Kevin Cramer:
Abortion on demand for 40 years leads to school shootings
Q: Abortion: Mostly ban or mostly legal?Kevin Cramer (R): Ban. "Forty years ago, the United States Supreme Court sanctioned abortion on demand. & we wonder why our culture sees school shootings so often."
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Mostly legal. "Reproductive decisions should be left to a woman, her family, & her doctor." But opposes public funding & supports state's right to mandate parental consent for minors & to restrict partial-birth abortions.
Q: Let Planned Parenthood receive public funds for non-abortion health care?
Kevin Cramer (R): No. Co-sponsored bill to defund.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): Yes. Voted against numerous bills aimed at defunding.
Q: Allow employers to withhold contraceptive
coverage from employees if disagree with it morally?
Kevin Cramer (R): Yes. Requiring contraceptive coverage infringes upon religious freedoms.
Heidi Heitkamp (D): No. Keep ACA requirement that insurance plans provide non-copay contraception.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on North Dakota Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Michael Coachman:
Individuals, including unborn, have intrinsic right to life
The rights of American citizens proceed from The Creator, not from government. Government authority proceeds only from the consent of the People.
Individuals, including the unborn, have the intrinsic right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Source: 2020 North Dakota gubernatorial campaign website
Mar 25, 2020
Rick Becker:
Government's responsibility to protect human life
One of the sharper exchanges came over the issue of abortion. Candidates were asked if they would've signed the multiple pieces of abortion legislation signed by Gov. Dalrymple in 2013, some of which have been litigated in court and defended by
Stenehjem's office since then.Becker said he was pro-life and that it's the government's responsibility to protect human life. Stehehjem said he'd have signed the legislation and is pro-life. He also recognizes exceptions for rape and incest.
Source: Bismarck Tribune on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial debate
Mar 3, 2016
Thomas Campbell:
Fight for the unborn
Tom is pro-life. He believes protecting innocent life is the most important responsibility we have,
and as a U.S. Senator, Tom will always fight for the unborn.
Source: 2018 North Dakota Senatorial websiteTomForNorthDakota.com
Oct 1, 2017
Tracy Potter:
Define life as beginning at birth, not conception
Sen. Potter voted NO on HB 1572. The bill failed the Senate 16-29.Project Vote Smart's Synopsis: "Legal Definition of Life": Vote to pass a bill that establishes the legislative intent for the interpretation of the laws when referring to
individuals, persons, or human beings to mean organisms with the genome of homo sapiens.
OnTheIssues Synopsis: A YES vote would legally define a fetus as human, and hence define abortion as the taking of a human life.
Source: North Dakota Legislative voting records
Apr 3, 2009
Tracy Potter:
Voted against making abortion a felony
Sen. Potter voted NO on HB 1466. The bill passed the Senate 29-16.Project Vote Smart's Synopsis: Vote to adopt a conference report that criminalizes abortion when such a ban would be upheld as constitutional. Highlights:
- Makes it a
Class C felony to perform an abortion.
- Provides exceptions for saving the pregnant woman's life or terminating a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.
Source: North Dakota Legislative voting records
Apr 23, 2009
Wayne Stenehjem:
Exceptions for rape & incest, but sign other pro-life bills
One of the sharper exchanges came over the issue of abortion. Candidates were asked if they would've signed the multiple pieces of abortion legislation signed by Gov. Dalrymple in 2013, some of which have been litigated in court and defended by
Stenehjem's office since then.Becker said he was pro-life and that it's the government's responsibility to protect human life. Stehehjem said he'd have signed the legislation and is pro-life. He also recognizes exceptions for rape and incest.
Burgum took a different tone, rejecting labeling sides and saying he'd prefer to put the issue to a vote of the people. "This is too important for any one person to vote on," Burgum said of signing abortion legislation.
Stenehjem latched on to Burgum's statement, saying the Legislature passes bills and it's up to the governor to act. "You have to make a decision," Stenehjem said.
Source: Bismarck Tribune on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial debate
Mar 3, 2016
Wayne Stenehjem:
Supports waiting periods and parental notification
Stenehjem indicated support of the following principles concerning abortion:- Abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered.
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Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and parental notification requirements.
- Increase state funding for programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
Source: 1996 North Dakota National Political Awareness Test
Nov 1, 1996
John Hoeven:
2007: signed trigger law banning abortions
[Republican incumbent Governor John] Hoeven hit [Independent State Rep. Rick] Becker for past votes against anti-abortion legislation, which Becker said were "some bad votes." [Democratic-NPL nominee Katrina] Christiansen criticized Hoeven
for "vilifying" women in "the most grievous moments" who seek late-term abortions. Hoeven, who as governor signed North Dakota's 2007 trigger law banning abortions with some exceptions, questioned whether
Christiansen would allow abortions up to the point of birth.[OnTheIssues explanation]: A "trigger law" outlaws most abortions, but could not take effect in 2007 because federal law--via the 1973
Roe v. Wade decision--superseded that state law. A "trigger law" would be "triggered" to take effect when the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, which occurred in June 2022].
Source: Bismarck Tribune on 2022 North Dakota Senate race
Oct 27, 2022
Katrina Christiansen:
Don't make a child carry a rapist pregnancy
[Republican incumbent Governor John] Hoeven hit [Independent State Rep. Rick] Becker for past votes against anti-abortion legislation, which Becker said were "some bad votes." [Democratic-NPL nominee Katrina] Christiansen criticized Hoeven
for "vilifying" women in "the most grievous moments" who seek late-term abortions. Hoeven, who as governor signed North Dakota's 2007 trigger law banning abortions with some exceptions, questioned whether
Christiansen would allow abortions up to the point of birth.Christiansen queried her opponents on whether they would support further restrictions on abortion, such as making "a child carry a rapist pregnancy" and
restricting access to birth control. She wondered how North Dakota's attorney general would address ectopic pregnancies, which can be life-threatening.
Source: Bismarck Tribune on 2022 North Dakota Senate race
Oct 27, 2022
Rick Becker:
I made "some bad votes" against anti-abortion legislation
[Republican incumbent Governor John] Hoeven hit [Independent State Rep. Rick] Becker for past votes against anti-abortion legislation, which Becker said were "some bad votes." [Democratic-NPL nominee Katrina] Christiansen criticized Hoeven
for "vilifying" women in "the most grievous moments" who seek late-term abortions. Hoeven, who as governor signed North Dakota's 2007 trigger law banning abortions with some exceptions, questioned whether
Christiansen would allow abortions up to the point of birth.Christiansen queried her opponents on whether they would support further restrictions on abortion, such as making "a child carry a rapist pregnancy" and
restricting access to birth control. She wondered how North Dakota's attorney general would address ectopic pregnancies, which can be life-threatening.
Source: Bismarck Tribune on 2022 North Dakota Senate race
Oct 27, 2022
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023