Iowa Supreme Court Blocked Abortion Ban After 6 Weeks Pregnant

Abortion will remain legal in Iowa after the state's high court refused Friday to reinstate a state law that would have greatly restricted the right to abortion, rejecting Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds' bill.

In a rare 3-3 split decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the bill.

The latest ruling comes about a year after the same body, and the United States Supreme Court, determined that women do not have federally protected fundamental constitutional right to abortion.

The law The blockade prohibits abortions once heart activity can be detected, usually around six weeks into the pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

Writing to the three justices who denied the state's request to reinstate the law, Judge Thomas Waterman said granting that request would mean bypassing the legislature, changing the standard for how the court reviews laws, and then dissolving a court order.

“In our view, it is legislating from the bench to take a statute that was moribund when it was enacted and has been banned for four years and then put it into effect,” Waterman wrote.

While the state high court upholds the block on the bill, this doesn't stop Governor Reynolds and legislators from passing a new law that looks the same. Friday's decision was largely procedural: the 2022 appeal of the 2019 ruling came too late.

Abortions remain legal for now in Iowa up to 20 weeks pregnant.

Many states have passed near-total abortion bans with very limited exceptions or have banned the procedure early in pregnancy, after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade that protected the right to abortion in the United States.

A total of 19 states have moved to ban or restrict abortion following Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end all federal abortion protections.