Iowa Governor Signs Six-Week Abortion Ban Into Law

Background

After the state’s previous six-week ban was blocked when a deadlocked Iowa Supreme Court left it unenforceable, Governor Reynolds called a special session on abortion.

Lawmakers returned to the State Capitol and passed a nearly identical set of restrictions on the procedure. Iowa providers and abortion-rights advocates filed suit on Wednesday within hours of the Legislature’s passage, saying it was unconstitutional under the standard of “undue burden.”

The session further cemented Iowa’s sharp political shift to the right, and ended its increasingly rare status as a Republican-led state where abortions are allowed up to 20 weeks post-fertilization, or roughly 22 weeks into pregnancy.

The bill passed by Republicans allows for abortions until the point where there is what the bill calls “detectable fetal heartbeat,” a term that medical groups dispute.

The legislation assumes this is roughly six weeks of pregnancy. The legislation includes exceptions after that point in cases of rape or incest, when the woman’s life is in serious danger or she faces a risk of certain permanent injuries, or when fetal abnormalities “incompatible with life” are present.

What’s Next

If abortion-rights activists prevail in court, the law could be suspended at least temporarily while the legal case proceeds.

Joseph Seidlin, a district court judge in Polk County, said he would not make a ruling on Friday, even as the groups pushing for abortion rights said the law would lead to immediate harms.

Mr. Seidlin said the decision required “strong and lengthy attention,” and making an immediate ruling from the bench would be perceived as a flippant decision.

“I cannot think of anything that would be more insulting to either side,” he said.

Peter Im, staff attorney at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, had requested that the ruling be made from the bench because of the ban’s “devastating impacts for Iowans” and argued that the ban was a violation of state constitutional rights.

“If there’s any wisdom to be gleaned from our nation’s experience during this past year, I think that it’s when there’s an abortion ban in place, people suffer,” Mr. Im said.

Daniel Johnston, assistant attorney general in Iowa, said that under the “rational basis” test — used to determine whether the state has a legitimate interest in a law — the abortion law was constitutional.

Mr. Johnston represents Governor Reynolds, the State of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Medicine.

He said that the plaintiffs failed to consider the loss of “unborn life” as a result of abortion, and that the new law “aims to prevent the destruction of human lives.”

Kate Zernike and Mitch Smith contributed reporting.