MKB Management Corp. v. Burdick

Brief Filed: 8/13/2014
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Year of Decision: 2015

Read full-text amicus briefopens in new window (PDF, 151KB)

Involves a challenge to North Dakota's law that would prohibit abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Abortion

In June 2013, a complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota challenging the North Dakota abortion ban laws, H.B. 1456 and H.B. 1305. H.B. 1456 bans abortion after the fetal heartbeat can be detected with a vaginal ultrasound, which can happen as early as six weeks of pregnancy. The only exceptions are for preventing the death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman. H.B. 1305 bans abortions for reasons of sex-selection and for "genetic abnormality." Plaintiffs later dropped the challenge to H.B. 1305. In July 2013, the district court granted plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction of H.B. 1456. In April 2014, the U.S. District Court granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and permanently enjoined H.B. 1456 from enforcement. The state of North Dakota has appealed the case to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

APA's 2008 task force on mental health and abortion report (PDF, 603KB)opens in new window has been cited by both those opposing the restrictions and criticized by those supporting the restrictions. The report reviews and evaluates empirical studies relating to the mental health of women who have abortions in the United States and finds that, based on the best research, among women who have a single, legal, first-trimester abortion of an unplanned pregnancy there is no greater risk of mental health repercussions than among women who deliver an unplanned pregnancy. APA's amicus brief was filed on Aug. 13, 2014.

On July 22, 2015, the 8th Circuit issued a decision upholding the district court’s ruling striking down the statutes which banned abortions as early as six weeks, but noted that this decision only reflected that the court was bound by U.S. Supreme Court precedent to affirm the district court’s decision. The court invited the Supreme Court to rethink its abortion jurisprudence to limit it.