Judge Bruce

When you are on your way out the door, you can say what you really think.

On my final day at Air Products, I planned to wear a gorilla suit. I would simply walk around like usual, but the suit would show what I thought of the circus that Air Products had become. What could they do? Retire me a day early? Maybe management got wind of my stunt so I was “downsized” with zero advance notice. It would have been difficult to find a “corporate casual” gorilla suit anyway.

North Dakota District Judge Bruce Romanick is on his way out the door. He will retire at the end of this year. To his credit, he said what he really thinks in an opinion this week. Judge Bruce struck down North Dakota’s near-total abortion ban claiming that the state constitution gives women a “fundamental right to procreative autonomy” and that “restrictions on that right are a violation of medical freedom.” North Dakota’s state constitution includes a guarantee of “life and liberty”. I wonder where they discovered with that phrase.

North Dakota’s abortion ban followed the Alabama/Florida Model. Abortion is illegal six weeks after conception except for rape, incest, and direct threat to the mother’s health. Violations by medical personnel result in up to a 5 year prison term. Whistleblowers earn a tidy $10 K reward. Not that there would be any busybodies who would take advantage of a poor woman’s pain to earn some cash.

Unfortunately, the proverbial horse is out of barn. When the abortion ban was passed last year, North Dakota’s only abortion clinic moved to Minnesota. The number of Ob-Gyns practicing in North Dakota was halved. For those who remained, their insurance premiums more than doubled.

Nevertheless, North Dakota’s Attorney General will appeal Judge Bruce’s decision. “A careful reading reveals flaws in his analysis. The opinion inappropriately casts aside a law created by the legislative branch.” Actually, Mr. Attorney General, that is the purpose of the judicial branch — to determine the constitutionality of laws created by the legislative branch. But what do I know?

I hope that on his last day on the bench, Judge Bruce wears a gorilla suit to demonstrate what a circus the North Dakota legislature is.

By Ed Dufton