BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Records obtained by The Associated Press show North Dakota spent $491,000 in legal costs defending an ill-fated law that attempted to ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The sum was finalized this week and includes billing by state-contracted attorneys and expert witnesses, as well as a $245,000 settlement paid to lawyers representing the state’s lone abortion clinic in Fargo.
North Dakota’s Republican-led Legislature passed the law in 2013 but it was later ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.
House Majority Leader Al Carlson and Republican Senate counterpart, Rich Wardner, defended spending state funds to defend the measure. Wardner says it was “worth every cent for those of us who believe in life.”
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Mac Schneider called it a “flagrantly awful outcome for North Dakota taxpayers.”
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