Current:Home > reviewsIowa Supreme Court declines to reinstate law banning most abortions -TrueNorth Capital Hub
Iowa Supreme Court declines to reinstate law banning most abortions
View
Date:2025-04-13 23:23:51
Abortion will remain legal in Iowa after the state's high court declined Friday to reinstate a law that would have largely banned the procedure, rebuffing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and, for now, keeping the conservative state from joining others with strict abortion limits.
In a rare 3-3 split decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. The latest ruling comes roughly a year after the same body — and the U.S. Supreme Court — determined that women do not have a fundamental constitutional right to abortion.
The blocked law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.
Writing for the three justices who denied the state's request to reinstate the law, Justice Thomas Waterman said granting that request would mean bypassing the legislature, changing the standard for how the court reviews laws and then dissolving an injunction.
"In our view it is legislating from the bench to take a statute that was moribund when it was enacted and has been enjoined for four years and then to put it in effect," Waterman wrote.
The court has seven members but one justice declined to participate because her former law firm had represented an abortion provider.
While the state's high court maintains the block on the law, it does not preclude Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a new law that looks the same. The decision Friday was largely procedural — the 2022 appeal to the 2019 ruling was too late.
Abortions remain legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women's constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade and handing authority over the issue to states.
Reynolds signed the 2018 law despite state and federal court decisions at the time, including Roe, affirming a woman's constitutional right to abortion. Planned Parenthood sued and a state judge blocked the law the following year. Reynolds did not appeal the decision at the time.
In a separate case, the Iowa Supreme Court decided last year to reverse an opinion saying the state's constitution affirms a fundamental right to abortion. Roe was overturned a week later and Reynolds sought to dissolve the 2019 decision.
A state judge ruled last year that she had no authority to do so and Reynolds appealed to the state's Supreme Court, which is now far more conservative than when the law was first passed. Reynolds appointed five of the court's seven members.
Although called a "fetal heartbeat" law, the measure does not easily translate to medical science. At the point where advanced technology can detect the first visual flutter, the embryo isn't yet a fetus and does not have a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus eight weeks after fertilization.
The Iowa law contains exceptions for medical emergencies, including threats to the mother's life, rape, incest and fetal abnormality.
The state's hgh court ruling comes amid a flurry of recent abortion decisions nationwide.
Last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in most cases. Meanwhile, Nevada's Joe Lombardo became one of the first Republican governors to enshrine protections for out-of-state abortion patients and in-state providers.
Also in May, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill into law that bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. However, the law will not yet go into effect, after a judge temporarily halted its implementation, pending state Supreme Court review.
- In:
- Iowa
- Abortion
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Global Warming Set the Stage for Los Angeles Fires
- Potentially dozens of Democrats expected to call on Biden to step aside after NATO conference
- Prosecutor in Alec Baldwin’s Rust Trial Accused of Calling Him a “C--ksucker”
- Jurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial begin deliberations
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Facebook lifts restrictions on Trump, giving him equal footing with Biden on the social media site
- Jurors in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial begin deliberations
- Man who plotted to murder TV host Holly Willoughby sentenced to life: Reports
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Eddie Murphy and Paige Butcher Get Married in Caribbean Wedding
Ranking
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Baltimore Judge Tosses Climate Case, Hands Win to Big Oil
- Baltimore Judge Tosses Climate Case, Hands Win to Big Oil
- HGTV Star Christina Hall Reveals the Secret of Her Strong Marriage to Josh Hall
- 'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
- Bananas, diapers and ammo? Bullets in grocery stores is a dangerous convenience.
- Biden, Jeffries meet as some House Democrats call on him to leave 2024 campaign
- 'America's Sweethearts': Why we can't look away from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders docuseries
Recommendation
'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
Euphoria Season 3 Finally Has a Start Date
California fire officials report first wildfire death of the 2024 season
Facebook lifts restrictions on Trump, giving him equal footing with Biden on the social media site
The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
Small wildfire leads to precautionary evacuation of climate change research facility in Colorado
Dolly Parton gives inside look at new Dollywood attraction, shares why it makes her so emotional
Mental health clinics across the US are helping Latinos bridge language and access barriers