The future of abortion policy in Iowa is once again headed for the state’s court system.
The leader of an organization that advocates for restrictions on abortions said Thursday she is pleased the process is moving quickly and will begin to play out Friday, when newly passed legislation — which restricts abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, typically between six and eight weeks — will have its first day in court.
And the leader of an organization that provides reproductive health care services, including abortions, said Thursday that she believes the Iowa courts will reject the latest attempt to restrict abortion in Iowa.
An Iowa district court judge in Des Moines on Friday will hold a hearing in the Polk County Courthouse to consider a request to stop enforcement of the new law, which the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature passed during a special session Tuesday.
The hearing is scheduled less than an hour before Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to sign the legislation into state law in downtown Des Moines at the Christian conservative Iowa Family Leader’s annual conference, which features remarks by six Republican presidential candidates.
“My hope was that (statehouse Republicans) would move quickly because we have been waiting for over five years” since a similar law was stopped by the courts in 2018, Maggie DeWitte, executive director of the anti-abortion group Pulse Life Advocates, said during taping of this week’s “Iowa Press” at Iowa PBS Studios in Johnston.
Here’s what is happening Friday:
1:30 p.m.: Polk County District Court hearing; three plaintiffs will ask a judge to halt enforcement of Iowa’s new abortion law until its constitutionality can be considered by the courts
2:15 p.m.: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to sign into law House File 732 during a ceremonial bill signing in downtown Des Moines at The Family Leader’s annual conference, featuring remarks from six Republican presidential candidates
“And so I was very grateful that Gov. Reynolds and our Legislature decided to have that special session so we could move forward in protecting Iowans’ lives.”
The 2018 law was stopped by the state courts, and Reynolds did not at the time appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. In 2022, after rulings by the Iowa Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court effectively eliminated a right to an abortion at the state and federal levels, Reynolds asked the Iowa courts to reinstate that 2018 law.
Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court declined to grant Reynolds’ request in a split, 3-3 decision, with one justice recusing herself.
Maggie DeWitte (left), executive director of Pulse Life Advocates, and Mazie Stilwell, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood, discuss abortion policy Thursday during the taping of “Iowa Press” at Iowa PBS studios in Johnston. (Iowa PBS screenshot)
Mazie Stilwell, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood, said she believes the state courts will block the new law as unconstitutional.
“We believe in letting the justice system play out, and we believe that justice will prevail for Iowans who value that freedom,” she said.
Stilwell also expressed concern for how the law will be implemented, if it is not immediately blocked by the courts. She said the law could force doctors to have to choose between denying an abortion even though it could endanger the pregnant individual, or performing the abortion to save the patient but then risk losing their medical license.
It is widely expected the case will wind up back before the Iowa Supreme Court.
The new law contains an exception that allows a physician to perform an abortion if the pregnant woman’s life is endangered.
Newsletter Signup
Legislative & Politics News Delivered to your inbox each weekday
But Stilwell said the language in the bill and lack of clarification from the Iowa Board of Medicine, which will not have met before the bill is signed into law Friday, make that exception ineffective.
“These exceptions put lives at risk and these exceptions put doctors and nurses and the people charged with caring for us in the position of choosing whether to follow the law and continue to be able to practice, or caring for the patients that they signed up to care for,” Stilwell said.
DeWitte said she trusts physicians to know when a situation is life-threatening and when they will need to “intervene on behalf of their patients.”
“That has been the case always and no ban will ever change that fact,” DeWitte said. “Physicians are always going to be free to provide the needed medical care for emergency situations involving the life and health of that mother. And so that won’t change.”
“Iowa Press” can be viewed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on Iowa PBS and at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on PBS World or viewed anytime at iowapbs.org/iowapress.
www.thegazette.com
The leader of an organization that advocates for restrictions on abortions said Thursday she is pleased the process is moving quickly and will begin to play out Friday, when newly passed legislation — which restricts abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, typically between six and eight weeks — will have its first day in court.
And the leader of an organization that provides reproductive health care services, including abortions, said Thursday that she believes the Iowa courts will reject the latest attempt to restrict abortion in Iowa.
An Iowa district court judge in Des Moines on Friday will hold a hearing in the Polk County Courthouse to consider a request to stop enforcement of the new law, which the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature passed during a special session Tuesday.
The hearing is scheduled less than an hour before Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to sign the legislation into state law in downtown Des Moines at the Christian conservative Iowa Family Leader’s annual conference, which features remarks by six Republican presidential candidates.
“My hope was that (statehouse Republicans) would move quickly because we have been waiting for over five years” since a similar law was stopped by the courts in 2018, Maggie DeWitte, executive director of the anti-abortion group Pulse Life Advocates, said during taping of this week’s “Iowa Press” at Iowa PBS Studios in Johnston.
Friday’s timeline
Here’s what is happening Friday:
1:30 p.m.: Polk County District Court hearing; three plaintiffs will ask a judge to halt enforcement of Iowa’s new abortion law until its constitutionality can be considered by the courts
2:15 p.m.: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to sign into law House File 732 during a ceremonial bill signing in downtown Des Moines at The Family Leader’s annual conference, featuring remarks from six Republican presidential candidates
“And so I was very grateful that Gov. Reynolds and our Legislature decided to have that special session so we could move forward in protecting Iowans’ lives.”
The 2018 law was stopped by the state courts, and Reynolds did not at the time appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. In 2022, after rulings by the Iowa Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court effectively eliminated a right to an abortion at the state and federal levels, Reynolds asked the Iowa courts to reinstate that 2018 law.
Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court declined to grant Reynolds’ request in a split, 3-3 decision, with one justice recusing herself.
Mazie Stilwell, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood, said she believes the state courts will block the new law as unconstitutional.
“We believe in letting the justice system play out, and we believe that justice will prevail for Iowans who value that freedom,” she said.
Stilwell also expressed concern for how the law will be implemented, if it is not immediately blocked by the courts. She said the law could force doctors to have to choose between denying an abortion even though it could endanger the pregnant individual, or performing the abortion to save the patient but then risk losing their medical license.
It is widely expected the case will wind up back before the Iowa Supreme Court.
The new law contains an exception that allows a physician to perform an abortion if the pregnant woman’s life is endangered.
On Iowa Politics
Newsletter Signup
But Stilwell said the language in the bill and lack of clarification from the Iowa Board of Medicine, which will not have met before the bill is signed into law Friday, make that exception ineffective.
“These exceptions put lives at risk and these exceptions put doctors and nurses and the people charged with caring for us in the position of choosing whether to follow the law and continue to be able to practice, or caring for the patients that they signed up to care for,” Stilwell said.
DeWitte said she trusts physicians to know when a situation is life-threatening and when they will need to “intervene on behalf of their patients.”
“That has been the case always and no ban will ever change that fact,” DeWitte said. “Physicians are always going to be free to provide the needed medical care for emergency situations involving the life and health of that mother. And so that won’t change.”
“Iowa Press” can be viewed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on Iowa PBS and at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on PBS World or viewed anytime at iowapbs.org/iowapress.
Legal process begins anew for Republicans’ latest attempt to restrict abortions in Iowa
A hearing will be held in district court today, mere moments before Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to sign the abortion restrictions into law
www.thegazette.com
