(Des Moines) A judge in Iowa, United States, temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy on Monday, just days after Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law the measure.
This means abortion is legal again in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the courts assess the constitutionality of the new law.
The new law bans nearly all abortions once heart activity can be detected, which typically occurs around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.
The Republican-controlled legislature approved the measure in a rare one-day special session last week, prompting a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic.
Judge Joseph Seidlin held a hearing on the matter on Friday, but said he would take the matter under advisement – as did Mr.me Reynolds signed the bill.
Abortion clinics said they rushed last week to arrange as many appointments as possible before the governor put pen to paper, preemptively making hundreds of calls to prepare patients for uncertainty and keeping clinics open late.
Mme Reynolds quickly released a statement outlining his intention to fight the issue in the state Supreme Court.
“The abortion industry’s attempt to thwart the will of Iowans and the voice of their elected officials continues today,” she said.
Monday’s ruling clarifies that while the law is temporarily suspended, the State Board of Medicine should proceed with enforcement so that specific rules for health care providers are well-defined should the law be enforced. in force in the future.
The law provides for limited circumstances that would allow abortion after the stage of pregnancy where cardiac activity is detected: rape, if reported to law enforcement or a health care provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the fetus has a fetal abnormality “incompatible with life”; or if the pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant woman.
Seidlin said his decision today is based on the “excessive demand” standard, which is an intermediate level of control that requires laws not create a significant barrier to abortion. “Perhaps it is the litigation that accepts the invitation. »
By using that standard, abortion advocates are likely correct that the new law violates Iowa’s constitutional rights, Judge Seidlin said, leading him to grant the temporary freeze.
State attorneys have argued that the law should be analyzed using rational scrutiny, the lowest level of scrutiny for judging legal challenges.
“We are deeply relieved the court has granted this relief so that essential health care in Iowa can continue,” Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks, medical director of the Iowa City-based Emma Goldman Clinic, said in a statement. We are also acutely aware that relief is only pending further litigation and that the future of abortion in Iowa remains tenuous and threatened. »
Most Republican-run states have dramatically limited access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and conferred authority over abortion law on the states. More than a dozen states have bans with limited exceptions and one state, Georgia, bans abortion after detection of heart activity.
Several other states have similar restrictions that are pending court rulings, as is currently the case in Iowa.