DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa judge has ruled that the state strict abortion laws The law goes into effect Monday and bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The law passed last year, but a judge had blocked its enforcement. The Iowa Supreme Court reiterated in June that there is no constitutional right to abortion in the state and ordered the block lifted. That translated into a district judge’s decision Monday to allow the law to go into effect next Monday at 8 a.m. Central Time.
Attorneys representing abortion providers asked Judge Jeffrey Farrell for notice before the law took effect, saying a buffer period was needed to ensure continuity of service. Iowa requires pregnant women to wait 24 hours for an abortion after an initial consultation. Abortion was legal in the state up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The Supreme Court ruling marked a decisive victory for Iowa’s Republican leaders after years of legislative and legal battles.
Iowa will join more than a dozen states that have drastically curtailed abortion access in the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Currently, 14 states have nearly total bans at all stages of pregnancy, and three states ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. That’s about when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature passed the law in a special session last July, and a Legal proceedings were immediately initiated by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic. The law was in effect for only a few days before a district judge temporarily blocked it.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state Supreme Court “upheld the will of the people of Iowa,” and Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird called it “a historic victory.”
There are limited circumstances under Iowa law that allow abortion after six weeks of pregnancy: rape, if reported to police or a health care provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the fetus has an abnormality “incompatible with life”; or if the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.
The State Medical Council has determined standards of practice earlier this year, although the rules do not specify how the board would determine non-compliance or what the appropriate disciplinary measures might be.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic said they will continue to provide abortion services in Iowa in accordance with the law once it takes effect.
In June, Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, also said the organization has made “long-term regional investments” over the past year to prepare for this outcome, including expanding facilities in Mankato, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska, both cities near Iowa.
Planned Parenthood Iowa has stopped providing abortion services in two Iowa cities in the past year, including Des Moines. Two of the five Planned Parenthood clinics in the state offer in-person abortion services, and three offer medication abortions.
People in and around Des Moines seeking an abortion travel about 35 miles north to Ames.
Alex Sharp, who manages the Ames facility, said staff have discussed how to bring empathy into conversations with people seeking abortions after the point at which they are legal in Iowa after the lockdown is lifted. There’s “the sensitivity of being told that you’re too far along and it’s too late now: ‘You’re going to have to, you know, leave and go somewhere else and you’re going to have to travel and you’re going to miss work again.'”
“A lot of people don’t know that this has happened,” Sharp said of the tougher law. “So those are difficult conversations that we’re having, have been having, and will continue to have.”
Sharp said facilities that perform abortions had offered additional appointments in June in anticipation of the Iowa Supreme Court ruling, and that appointments are already fully booked in July.
“It is quite possible that they are older than six weeks, but we will scan them,” she said of people who have an appointment after the lockdown is lifted.
Sarah Traxler, medical director of the Planned Parenthood region, said a law that bans abortions after cardiac activity is detected is “troublesome.”
Because six weeks is approximate, Traxler said, “we don’t necessarily have plans to cut people off at a certain gestational age.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 44% of the 3,761 total abortions in Iowa in 2021 occurred at or before six weeks of gestation. Only six abortions occurred at or after 21 weeks.
In other states where bans take effect at about six weeks of pregnancy, abortion rates have fallen by about half.
In its 4-3 opinion last month, the majority of the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Iowa’s abortion laws should be evaluated based on whether the government has a legitimate interest in restricting the procedure, not whether the burden is unduly burdensome on people seeking abortions.
The decision was celebrated by Iowa’s conservative leaders, who have advocated against abortion access for decades. Chuck Hurley, vice president of the conservative Christian organization The Family Leader, said “bad judges have allowed abortion access in Iowa for more than 51 years.”
As Hurley celebrated the victory and the “great strides forward in protecting the most innocent among us,” he alluded to the work that still remained to be done.
“Fourteen states now protect babies from the moment of conception,” he said, “and Iowa should be the 15th.”
___
Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill contributed from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.