Anti-Measure 1 Ad Claims It Would Ban All Abortions, But Their Own Experts Disagree

The North Dakotans Against Measure 1 have launched a new television ad claiming that the constitutional amendment would “ban all abortion.”

It features a woman named Becky from Bismarck who talks about a decision her family made to have an abortion. It is, frankly, a difficult thing to watch.

North Dakota Choose Life has released a rebuttal for the ad, which you can see below, but one thing I found curious is the claim that the measure would ban all abortions.

It wouldn’t. And you don’t have to take my word for it. A “white paper” released by North Dakotans Against Measure 1 in September and currently posted on their website (backup here in case they take it down) says otherwise.

I quote: “…Measure 1 cannot nullify the landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.”

That quote is from page 7 of the document where it deals directly with the issue of abortion. Now, the paper goes on to suppose that social conservatives would use Measure 1 as a springboard for other laws seeking to outlaw abortion, and perhaps that’s the case. But it’s also beside the point.

This ad claims that Measure 1 would “ban all abortion.” That’s false, per an analysis of anti-Measure 1 activists including University of North Dakota legal scholar Steven Morrison, former Fargo judge Thomas Davies, North Dakota University System Chief of Staff Murray Sagsveen, and several other legal experts who signed the document.

And then there’s this: “Morrison added that Measure 1 would not “stop” abortion because federal law, which trumps state law, protects a woman’s right to an abortion in her first trimester.”

North Dakotans Against Measure 1 are, per their own information and statements, lying.

Fact-Check NDAM1 Misleads Woman Who Suffered Miscarriage 10-27-14