District Court hearing set, Iowa abortion ban could go into effect as soon as Friday
Iowa's law that bans abortions at roughly six weeks is now closer to becoming a reality.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa's law that bans abortions at roughly six weeks is now closer to becoming a reality.While still on hold, Friday is the earliest it could take effect, depending on court actions.
The Iowa Supreme Court's decisionreversed a district court’s temporary block on the law, paving the way for it to take effect. It takes at least three weeks for the decision to return to the lower court, where the temporary injunction can then be officially lifted.
The ACLU of Iowa has requested the state supreme court to rehear the case. The high court must accept or deny this request before a district judge can officially enforce the law.
“When a party files a petition for rehearing at the Iowa Supreme Court, the supreme court sometimes calls for a response and rehears it,” Peter Im, an attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America said. “Sometimes it denies the petition. It’s really hard to say what the court is going to do in this circumstance.”
Anti-abortion advocates have pushed for a six week abortion ban since a similar bill was passed in 2018.Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Pulse Life Advocates, expressed satisfaction with the progress and hopes to work on their next goal, a life-at-conception bill.
“My understanding is that there’s a lot of formalities and things that are happening, but I’ve been assured that our heartbeat bill will go forward and be enforced based on the ruling we got from our Iowa Supreme Court,” DeWitte said. “So I’m confident that we will see enforcement of our heartbeat bill, if not tomorrow, by next week.”
While the law remains in limbo, Planned Parenthood representatives are preparing for a future where 97% of Iowa abortions will be illegal. They plan to provide the procedure in-state only when a pregnancy shows no cardiac activity.
“If there is cardiac activity detected, our patient navigators will help those patients travel across state lines to access the health care they need,” Ruth Richardson, CEO and President of Planned Parenthood North Central States said.
Planned Parenthood is also expanding its Omaha clinic, increasing the number of exam rooms from four to 13, and investing in Minnesota clinics by adding medication abortion services. They will continue offering other services in Iowa without any current plans to change staffing.
“The reality is that abortion bans do not ban abortions for everyone,” Richardson said. “They ban abortions for people who don’t have the means or the opportunity to travel.”