A judge vacated North Dakota’s abortion ban in a Thursday ruling, finding the law unconstitutionally vague and an infringement on medical freedom. South Central Judicial District Court Judge Bruce Romanick’s order came as part of a lawsuit challenging the law brought last year by reproductive health care doctors and an abortion clinic.

A North Dakota state court judge on Thursday overturned the state's near-total abortion ban, clearing the way for abortion to become legal in the Midwestern state for the first time in more than a year.

A state judge has struck down North Dakota’s ban on abortion, saying that the state constitution creates a fundamental right to access abortion before a fetus is viable.