The Guardian said a healthcare system was awarded hospital-admitting privileges to doctors at the sole abortion provider in North Dakota. A healthcare system is an organization of individuals, institutions and resources to deliver health needs of targeted customers. The move to award Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health, which is the largest healthcare system North Dakota, hospital admission privileges, said the UK newspaper, will bring the Fargo, North Dakota-based Red River Women's Clinic to comply with the new legislation of the state. This means that Sanford Health-credentialed doctors who serve in Red River would need to comply requirements demanded of gaining hospital admission privileges in nearby hospitals.
Sanford Health said in a statement on Thursday to the Associated Press that doctors at the Red River Women's Clinic had been given credentials at its local hospital also in Fargo.
It is to note that last year, the Center for Reproductive Rights, who currently helps the Red River Women's Clinic, filed a lawsuit in a state court to challenge the law that requires physicians who perform abortion procedures to gain hospital-admitting privileges within 30 miles of the abortion facilities. This week, the Guardian said the case is expected to go on trial, but will no longer be pursued due to the settlement discussions the New York-based interest group has entered into without revealing any other details.
Staff attorney Autumn Katz at the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement, "(We) cannot discuss the details of any potential settlement before it is finalized".
Critics of the 2013 law said the provision would make abortion procedures essentially illegal in North Dakota, as it would be impossible for doctors who perform abortions to make the required number of hospital visits demanded of their hospital admission privileges.
In July of last year. a state judge had approved a preliminary injunction to stop the law from being implemented. Earlier, a judge had ordered the lawsuit regarding hospital access of abortion doctors to be consolidated with a 2011 lawsuit over a statute that bans one of two drugs that is used in non-surgical abortion procedures. The Guardian said that a supreme court ruling in North Dakota regarding that case is currently pending.
When the UK paper asked North Dakota attorney general's office spokeswoman and clinic director Tammi Kromenaker for comment about the court challenges, she refused to provide comment.
