Iowa’s highest court has upheld a law that allows the state to ban most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
The law prohibits abortions as soon as early signs of cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus or embryo – but provides exceptions in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities and when the mother’s life is in danger. hazard.
The decision taken on Friday cancels a temporary blockage of the lawwhich was initially passed by the state legislature in July 2023.
The Iowa Supreme Court dismissed Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit 4-3, ruling that the law did not violate citizens’ fundamental rights under the state constitution.
The decision, posted on the court’s website, held that laws restricting abortion were unconstitutional only if the state could not demonstrate a “rational basis” for the law.
Justice Matthew McDermott wrote in the majority opinion that the law was “rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life.”
Chief Justice Susan Christensen wrote in her dissenting opinion that the majority “deprives Iowa women of their bodily autonomy” and relies heavily on “the male-dominated history and traditions of the 1800s,” while ignoring advances in women’s rights since then.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who originally signed the 2022 law, welcomed the decision in a statement.
“There is no right more sacred than life, and nothing more worthy of our firmest defense than the innocent unborn,” she said, praising the court for upholding “the will of the people of Iowa.
According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the state previously banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Iowa is the latest state to toughen its abortion laws since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which struck down the nation’s abortion guarantee.
Since then, a patchwork of abortion laws has emerged as more conservative states restrict access to the procedure.
The Guttmacher Institute reports that as of June, 14 U.S. states have complete bans on abortion, including Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas.
