Iowa Supreme Court Upheld the Six-Week Abortion Ban in Iowa on June 28, 2024
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled to uphold the state's six-week abortion ban on Friday, June 28, 2024. The ruling will significantly restrict abortions in Iowa and prohibit physicians from providing most abortions after early cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus or embryo, commonly as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
The ban includes exceptions for miscarriages, when the life of the pregnant woman is threatened, and fetal abnormalities that would result in the infant's death. Exceptions will also be made for pregnancies resulting from rapes reported within 45 days and incest reported within 140 days.
The Iowa Supreme Court's decision comes as part of the larger political fallout around the issue of abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights in June 2022. Several bans have been met with challenges from abortion rights groups, and many are still being litigated, including in Utah, Ohio, and Wyoming.
The Iowa ban was passed during a special legislative session called solely to pass abortion restrictions after the state Supreme Court declined to lift a block on a similar 2018 bill. The 2023 ban immediately faced challenges from the local Planned Parenthood and American Civil Liberties Union chapters, along with other reproductive rights advocates.
Attorneys for the state argued that Iowa's constitution does not recognize a fundamental right to an abortion and as a result, the abortion ban doesn't implicate a fundamental right. Reproductive rights advocates said that the law will prevent most Iowans from accessing an abortion as many people do not know they are pregnant at six weeks.
With the ruling, Iowa joins nearly two dozen states that have banned or limited access to abortion. Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have similar six-week restrictions in place.
The case is significant because it sets a precedent for other states looking to restrict or ban abortions within their jurisdictions.