Abortion will continue to be legal in Iowa as the state’s high court declined to reinstate a law that would have imposed strict limitations on the procedure. This decision goes against the wishes of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and prevents Iowa from joining other conservative states with restrictive abortion laws.
In a rare 3-3 split decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. This ruling comes approximately a year after both the Iowa Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court determined that women do not have a fundamental constitutional right to abortion.
The blocked law in Iowa prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which typically occurs around six weeks of pregnancy, often before women are aware they are pregnant.
Justice Thomas Waterman, writing on behalf of the three justices who denied the state’s request to reinstate the law, stated that granting the request would amount to bypassing the legislature, changing the court’s standard for reviewing laws, and dissolving an injunction. The justices believed that enacting a statute that has been inactive and under an injunction for four years would be legislating from the bench.
One justice on the court recused herself from participating in the decision due to her previous affiliation with an abortion provider through her former law firm.
Although the high court’s decision maintains the block on the law, it does not prevent Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a new law with similar provisions. Friday’s decision was primarily procedural, as the appeal to the 2019 ruling in 2022 was considered untimely.
Abortions in Iowa remain legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, many Republican-led states have greatly restricted access to abortion, granting more authority to individual states on the issue.
Despite previous court decisions, including Roe, affirming a woman’s constitutional right to abortion, Reynolds signed the 2018 law. However, the law was blocked by a state judge in the following year, and Reynolds chose not to appeal the decision at that time.
In a separate case, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed its opinion from the previous year, which had stated that the state’s constitution affirmed a fundamental right to abortion. Shortly after this reversal, Roe was overturned, prompting Reynolds to seek the dissolution of the 2019 decision. However, a state judge ruled that she lacked the authority to do so, and Reynolds appealed to the state’s Supreme Court, which now has a more conservative majority due to Reynolds appointing five out of seven justices.
Although referred to as a “fetal heartbeat” law, this legislation does not align precisely with medical terminology. The visual flutter that can be detected does not signify the presence of a fetus with a heart. The term “fetus” is used after eight weeks of fertilization.
The Iowa law does include exceptions for medical emergencies, such as threats to the mother’s life, rape, incest, and fetal abnormalities.
The Iowa high court’s ruling comes amidst a series of recent abortion decisions across the country.
Last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court deemed two state laws banning abortion to be unconstitutional, although abortion remains mostly illegal in the state. In a progressive move, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo implemented protections for out-of-state abortion patients and in-state providers.
In May, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill into law that prohibits most abortions after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. However, the law has been temporarily halted pending review by the state’s Supreme Court.
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