Iowa Supreme Court Upholds Heartbeat Abortion Restriction

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the state’s law protecting unborn babies once a fetal heartbeat is detected is legal, and ordered a lower court to remove its temporary block against the law.

Iowa Supreme Court justices ruled 4-3 in favor of the state and remanded the case back to a lower court, with Justice Matthew McDermott writing for the majority that abortion is “not rooted at all in our state’s history and tradition.”

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“The state’s interest in protecting the unborn can be traced to Iowa’s earliest days,” he wrote.

Iowa passed the six-week abortion restriction in a special session last July. The law has limited exceptions, including rape, if reported to law enforcement or a health provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the unborn baby has an abnormality “incompatible with life,” or if the life of the mother is at risk. The state’s medical board recently released guidance for doctors on how to follow the law.

Not even 12 hours after lawmakers passed the bill, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit challenging the abortion limit, along with Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic. The heartbeat bill went into effect for a few days before a district court blocked the law, a decision which Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) appealed.

“Every ground the State identifies is a legitimate interest for the legislature to pursue, and the restrictions on abortion in the fetal heartbeat statute are rationally related to advancing them,” McDermott added. “As a result, Planned Parenthood’s substantive due process challenge fails. The district court thus erred in granting the temporary injunction.”

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Planned Parenthood has stopped performing abortions in two Iowa cities during the legal battle, including at a clinic in Des Moines, according to the Associated Press. Instructions will be formally sent to the lower court within 21 days, meaning abortion is legal in Iowa currently up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, the report continued.

On Friday, Iowa abortionists said they will operate according to state law, and while “it is not clear when in late July the injunction will be dissolved, Planned Parenthood North Central States and Emma Goldman Clinic representatives both said they would schedule as many appointments as possible before that point,” AP reported.

Reynolds celebrated the ruling in a statement on Friday and praised the court for upholding “the will of the people of Iowa.”

“There is no right more sacred than life, and nothing more worthy of our strongest defense than the innocent unborn. Iowa voters have spoken clearly through their elected representatives, both in 2018 when the original heartbeat bill was passed and signed into law, and again in 2023 when it passed by an even larger margin. I’m glad that the Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the will of the people of Iowa,” Reynolds said.

“As the heartbeat bill finally becomes law, we are deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, and promoting fatherhood and its importance in parenting,” Reynolds added. “We will continue to develop policies that encourage strong families, which includes promoting adoption and protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF). Families are the cornerstone of society, and it’s what will keep the foundation of our state and country strong for generations to come.”

The case is Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds, No. 23-1145 in the Supreme Court of Iowa.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.