North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has partially vetoed a bill aimed at penalizing the state’s 11 colleges and universities for funneling federal grant money to individuals or organizations that promote or perform abortions.
The Republican governor said in his veto message that the “multimillion-dollar penalties directed toward our public higher education institutions and mandatory criminal charges against state employees” is “problematic.”
Burgum vetoed the portion of the bill that contains the sanctions, citing state law that already forbids “an agency of the state” from funding or supporting programs that do not “give preference, encouragement and support to normal childbirth.” Burgum said the sections he did not veto were intended to clarify that unless institutions abide by anti-abortion policies, they are ineligible to receive challenge grant dollars.
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