Iowa Republicans pass six-week abortion ban, setting up new court challenge

Iowa lawmakers Tuesday passed a law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, weeks after the state Supreme Court deadlocked on whether the state’s current ban was enforceable.

The bill’s passage sets up another legal challenge, as abortion rights groups said they would fight the new law. 

Republicans hold large majorities in both the state House and Senate, and Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) last week called members back for a marathon one-day special session with the sole intent of passing an abortion ban.

In a statement announcing the special session, Reynolds decried “the inhumanity of abortion” and said Iowa lawmakers “will not rest until the unborn are protected by law.”

“I believe the pro-life movement is the most important human rights cause of our time,” Reynolds said. 

The bill will take effect immediately when Reynolds signs it, further eroding abortion access across the Midwest, where it is already limited. Abortion is banned in almost all cases in the neighboring states of Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin, though the Wisconsin law is being challenged. 

The legislation bans abortion after the detection of fetal cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy; currently, abortion is legal in Iowa up to 22 weeks gestation.

Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said even though abortion has remained legal in Iowa, residents don’t know the types of care that are available to them.

“This reality of a constantly shifting landscape has created a manufactured state of confusion that has harmed patients,” Richardson said during a recent press briefing. 

Richardson said there’s been a significant increase in the number of people traveling to Minnesota, where Gov. Tim Walz (D) has embraced abortion rights protections. 

The Iowa bill has limited exceptions for the life and health of the pregnant person as well as exceptions for certain survivors of rape and incest, so long as the cases are reported to law enforcement authorities. It also has exceptions for fetal abnormalities that are “incompatible with life.”

Last month, the state Supreme Court deadlocked on whether to overturn a lower court’s injunction against a similar 2018 version of the law. 

The 2018 law also banned abortion after fetal cardiac activity, but a judge ruled it was unconstitutional since Roe v. Wade was still in effect. The state did not appeal the decision. 

After Roe was overturned last year, Reynolds tried to reinstate the law but was blocked by a district court judge. She appealed to the Supreme Court, which deadlocked 3-3, leaving the lower court’s decision in place.

But the deadlock meant the court did not address the underlying question of whether the abortion ban violates the state constitution. 

Reynolds said in a statement she would sign the bill Friday.

“The Iowa Supreme Court questioned whether this legislature would pass the same law they did in 2018, and today they have a clear answer,” Reynolds said. “The voices of Iowans and their democratically elected representatives cannot be ignored any longer, and justice for the unborn should not be delayed.”  

Less than 12 hours after the bill passed, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the Emma Goldman Clinic, and the ACLU of Iowa joined to file a lawsuit challenging it.

— Updated at 12:47 p.m.