The state asked the Iowa Supreme Court Thursday to let Iowa’s law that bans abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy take effect, as lawyers for abortion providers argued the law is unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked.
It was the second time in as many years the Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments over what supporters call a “fetal heartbeat” law in the state. The seven Republican-appointed justices are now poised to decide by the end of June if the Iowa Constitution allows for a strict abortion ban.
Last year, a tie vote by the Iowa Supreme Court (one justice recused herself) prevented the approximately six-week abortion ban passed in 2018 from taking effect.
In response, Republican lawmakers held a one-day special session last July to pass a nearly identical abortion ban. That was blocked by a district court, leaving abortions available in Iowa up to about 20 weeks of pregnancy, and the state appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan argued Thursday for the state that Iowa plays a vital role in protecting unborn life. He said because of a 2022 decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found abortion rights are not subject to strict scrutiny, the Court should use the “rational basis” test and let the abortion ban take effect.
“There is no right to be found for abortion," Wessan said. "And so what my friends on the other side say—that the right might be hiding here, it might be hiding there, in some combination of clauses—it’s simply not what this court historically has done.”
Peter Im argued for Planned Parenthood that the law should be found unconstitutional using the “undue burden” standard that has allowed abortions before a fetus could survive outside the womb.
“On the one hand, you have autonomy and dominion over one’s own body, and also because as the Planned Parenthood 2022 plurality stated, parenthood is a life-altering obligation that falls unevenly on women in our society," Im said. "So because of those rights that are recognized under the constitution, that’s why rational basis isn’t appropriate.”
After the hearing, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said the U.S. Supreme Court gave states the power to decide abortion limits when it overturned Roe v. Wade.
"For Iowa, the people's elected representatives have drawn a clear line, multiple times, at when a heartbeat begins," she said in a statement. "Today, the unborn had their day at the Iowa Supreme Court. As a pro-life governor, I will do everything I can to protect the innocent unborn and promote strong, healthy families."
Abortion rights supporters rallied against the law outside of the Iowa Supreme Court building before the hearing.
Ruth Richardson, president of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said the abortion ban would cause an overall decline in Iowans' health, especially considering the disproportionate maternal deaths among Black women in Iowa and a recent increase in infant mortality.
“We’re here today to say that this obsession with banning abortion—it’s cruel, it’s insidious, it’s deadly," she said. "And we are going to shout from the rooftops: no bans now, no bans ever.”
What would the law do if it takes effect?
With the law held up in court, abortions are still available in Iowa up to about 20 weeks of pregnancy, with a 24-hour waiting period that requires two separate clinic appointments.
Planned Parenthood officials estimate banning abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy would ban about 98% of abortions in Iowa.
The law says abortions are banned, with some exceptions, after a “fetal heartbeat” is detected with an abdominal ultrasound. This can be as soon as six weeks after the beginning of the last menstrual period, when people may not yet know they are pregnant.
Medical professionals have criticized the phrase “fetal heartbeat” in the context of abortion laws because a pregnancy is not medically recognized as a fetus until about 10 weeks after the last period. They have said electric activity can be detected earlier than that, when a pregnancy is still considered an embryo, and the heart is not fully developed.
The law has exceptions for victims of rape and incest, fetal abnormalities incompatible with life, miscarriages, and for medical emergencies.
The medical emergency exception would allow later abortions to “preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy.”
Similar exceptions in other states’ abortion laws have left doctors trying to figure out how close a woman has to be to dying to legally perform an abortion.
The Iowa Board of Medicine has also approved more detailed rules for doctors to implement the law if it is allowed to take effect.
Doctors accused of violating the law could face licensing discipline by the Board of Medicine. Iowa’s law does not contain criminal penalties for abortion providers or patients.
