An effort is underway to refer three new abortion control bills to voters.
One of the bills – dubbed the “fetal heartbeat” bill – would prohibit abortions after six weeks. A second would prohibit abortions for sex selection or when the fetus has genetic abnormalities. The third would require doctors who perform abortions at North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic to have privileges at a local hospital.
Secretary of State Al Jaeger says he will now be working on the correct ballot titles for the petition – and once that happens, the sponsoring committee can start gathering signatures.
"The petitions have to be submitted to our office 90 days after the bills were filed with the Secretary of State," Jaeger said. "In all three cases, the legislation was filed March 26th, and with the 90 days, they will have to come back prior to midnight on Monday, June 24th."
The sponsoring committee will need at least 13,452 signatures on each petition. If the committee gets enough valid signatures, the measures will be on the June Primary ballot in 2014.
The three laws ware to take effect August First – but could be suspended, if enough signatures are gathered.
