The majority of abortions are now prohibited in Iowa as early as six weeks after Republican governor Kim Reynolds passed a bill into law on Friday.
Legal battle begins, impacting reproductive rights in a key presidential state, escalating a divisive campaign issue.
Law enforced immediately after Reynolds’ special session to restrict procedures. Legal challenge arises as state abortion providers file suit to stop it.
If the emergency injunction request is granted, the six-week prohibition will be halted while the legal challenge is resolved.
The legal challenge was filed in a state court Wednesday afternoon by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, and the Emma Goldman Clinic, a women’s health care institution in Iowa City, saying that the new restriction violates the Iowa state constitution. The groups’ officials expect the lawsuit to go to the state Supreme Court.
Reynolds and Republican candidates celebrate signing, confident it will succeed despite the challenge.
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What Includes Under The Bill?
The bill, which was passed earlier this week by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, prevents physicians from performing most abortions if early heart activity is found in a baby or embryo, which can occur as early as six weeks into being pregnant, before many women are aware they are pregnant.
It makes exceptions for miscarriages where the pregnant woman’s life is endangered, as well as prenatal defects that would result in the infant’s death.
There are further exclusions for pregnancies caused by rapes reported within 45 days and sexual assault reported within 140 days.
In the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade, Iowa has joined a rising number of Republican-led states that have supported severe abortion restrictions.
Reynolds’ quest for abortion restrictions comes just weeks after the Iowa Supreme Court refused to extend a stay on the state’s 2018 six-week abortion ban, voting 3-3 to reject a lower court judgment that declared the statute unconstitutional.
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