Expert witness costs ND $21K in abortion trial

BISMARCK (AP) - The North Dakota attorney general's office has paid a doctor nearly $21,000 to help the state defend an abortion law passed by the Legislature two years ago.
The lawsuit that begins this week in Fargo is over a 2011 law banning the widely accepted use of a medication that induces abortion.
Records obtained by the Associated Press show the state has spent about $23,000 in legal costs to date, and almost all the money has gone to Dr. Donna Harrison of Eau Claire, Mich. to act as an expert witness.
Harrison is the president the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights is representing the Red River Women Clinic in Fargo in the lawsuit. A judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of the law.