The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that state law that prohibits most abortions after a baby’s heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks into a pregnancy, can take effect.
The state’s highest court ruled 4-3 on Friday in the case of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc., et al v. Kim Reynolds et alto reverse a lower court decision blocking the law, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Justice Matthew McDermott authored the majority opinion, writing that “abortion is not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution” and that “the fetal heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life.”
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“A right to an abortion, as the historical record shows, is not rooted at all in our state’s history and tradition,” wrote McDermott. “Every ground the State identifies is a legitimate interest for the legislature to pursue, and the restrictions on abortion in the fetal heartbeat statute are rationally related to advancing them.”
“As a result, Planned Parenthood’s substantive due process challenge fails. The district court thus erred in granting the temporary injunction.”
Chief Justice Susan Christensen authored one of the dissenting opinions, arguing that “our court’s majority strips Iowa women of their bodily autonomy by holding that there is no fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy under our state constitution.”
“It is a bold assumption to think that the drafters of our state constitution intended for their interpretation to stand still while we move forward as a society,” she wrote. “Instead, we should interpret our constitution through a modern lens that recognizes how our lives have changed with the passage of time.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds celebrated the ruling, releasing a statement in which she said that there is “nothing more worthy of our strongest defense than the innocent unborn.”
“As the heartbeat bill finally becomes law, we are deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, and promoting fatherhood and its importance in parenting,” stated Reynolds.
“We will continue to develop policies that encourage strong families, which includes promoting adoption and protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF). Families are the cornerstone of society, and it’s what will keep the foundation of our state and country strong for generations to come.”
The Iowa chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped to represent the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, denounced the decision as “absolutely heartbreaking.”
“Many Iowans will now face unjust — sometimes impossible — obstacles to getting an abortion. Only some will have the resources, circumstances, and safety to leave our state to get care,” stated the ACLU of Iowa.
In 2018, before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Iowa passed a law that prohibited doctors from performing abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, with exemptions for abortions being performed due to rape, incest, fetal abnormality, and treatments related to incomplete miscarriages.
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a lawsuit against it on behalf of the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City and Planned Parenthood North Central States.
Last year, the Iowa Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 over whether to reverse an earlier decision to block the law from taking effect, with Justice Dana Oxley, the seventh member of the court, not taking part in the proceedings.
