All Sides of North Dakota's Abortion Ban

This article was a winning submission of the 2025 AllSides Student Journalism Contest.

By Mackenzie Wilkins, Grade 10, New Hampshire, Lean Right Bias

North Dakota's abortion ban offers a clear example of how the media across all political views view and present the topic of abortion. Abortion is a common and controversial topic within the media. It is a medical procedure which intentionally terminates a human pregnancy. It is one of the topics with the clearest biases shown. These biases range from, "abortion is a fundamental human right," to "abortion is murder." Typically, the democratic party supports abortion access while the republican party generally opposes abortion. Historically, there has been much resistance and even criminalization when it comes to this procedure. Throughout the 1800's, there was much opposition by the American Medical Association (AMA). This resistance grew throughout the years. By 1910, abortion was illegal in every state with some exceptions to save the mothers life (Lewis and Shimabukuro 2). In its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a person may have an abortion up until stages of viability. Later in 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe, no longer classifying abortion as a constitutional right (Honderich). Currently, regulations and laws surrounding abortion vary by state. As of November 2025, 13 states have banned abortion, now including North Dakota. In November, North Dakota's near total ban of abortion was revisited. Some claimed it was unconstitutional, but overall it was overruled and abortion is a criminal offense within the state. There are exceptions to the ban if the mother life or health is in danger and in the occurance of rape or incest while within the first 6 weeks of pregnancy. People are very passionate and divided when it comes to this topic.