The Iowa Supreme Court will release a highly anticipated ruling Friday that could have massive implications for the ability of women to obtain abortions in Iowa.
At issue is a 2023 law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy. A lower court blocked the law from going into effect, and Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed that ruling.
Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have asked the court to reverse a 2015 decision and hold the state must prove only that it has a "rational basis" for abortion restrictions, rather than having to show laws do not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortion.
POLITICS
William Morris
Des Moines Register
SKIP
The Iowa Supreme Court will release a highly anticipated ruling Friday that could have massive implications for the ability of women to obtain abortions in Iowa.
At issue is a 2023 law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy. A lower court blocked the law from going into effect, and Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed that ruling.
Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have asked the court to reverse a 2015 decision and hold the state must prove only that it has a "rational basis" for abortion restrictions, rather than having to show laws do not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortion.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which sued to block the law, has argued that the undue burden standard should remain, or alternatively, that the Supreme Court should remand the case for further proceedings, possibly setting up another appeal next year.
The decision will be the latest in a string of abortion-related cases to come before the state's highest court. In 2023, the court considered a challenge to a previous version of the so-called "fetal heartbeat" abortion ban, but deadlocked 3-3. Nonbinding opinions from that case suggest at least three justices were in favor of the undue burden standard, and that the other three favored the easier rational basis test.
At issue is a 2023 law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy. A lower court blocked the law from going into effect, and Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed that ruling.
Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have asked the court to reverse a 2015 decision and hold the state must prove only that it has a "rational basis" for abortion restrictions, rather than having to show laws do not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortion.
POLITICS
Iowa Supreme Court to rule Friday on 6-week abortion ban, could set standard for new laws
William MorrisDes Moines Register
SKIP
The Iowa Supreme Court will release a highly anticipated ruling Friday that could have massive implications for the ability of women to obtain abortions in Iowa.
At issue is a 2023 law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy. A lower court blocked the law from going into effect, and Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed that ruling.
Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have asked the court to reverse a 2015 decision and hold the state must prove only that it has a "rational basis" for abortion restrictions, rather than having to show laws do not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortion.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which sued to block the law, has argued that the undue burden standard should remain, or alternatively, that the Supreme Court should remand the case for further proceedings, possibly setting up another appeal next year.
The decision will be the latest in a string of abortion-related cases to come before the state's highest court. In 2023, the court considered a challenge to a previous version of the so-called "fetal heartbeat" abortion ban, but deadlocked 3-3. Nonbinding opinions from that case suggest at least three justices were in favor of the undue burden standard, and that the other three favored the easier rational basis test.
