Global Courant
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds convened a special legislative session on Wednesday to pursue new abortion restrictions after the state Supreme Court refused to reinstate a 2018 ban after about six weeks of pregnancy.
The court was split 3-3 last month and did not rule on the merits of the law, leaving open the possibility that the GOP-controlled legislature would try to pass a similar ban. Meanwhile, abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks gestation.
Lawmakers will meet on July 11.
“Iowans deserve their legislative body to swiftly address the issue of abortion and all unborn children deserve to have their lives protected by the government, as the fetal heart rate law did,” Reynolds wrote in the order.
The stalled law banned abortion as soon as heart activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. Medical experts say the heart activity is not an actual heartbeat, but rather an initial wave of electrical movement in cells in an embryo.
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Democrats in the legislature immediately issued statements denouncing the anticipated restrictions that conflicted with the majority of Iowa residents. Polls show that most American adults, including Iowans, support at least some access to abortion in general, even though views on the issue are complicated. Few say that abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Most Republican-led states have significantly restricted access to abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Separately, in 2022 the Iowa Supreme Court reversed an opinion that said the state constitution affirms a fundamental right to abortion.
A protester holds a sign as community members walk through Davenport, Iowa, during a march following the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 26, 2022. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP, file)
Following those rulings, Reynolds declined to convene a special session last year to issue new restrictions, opting instead to work through state courts to try to get the 2018 ban into effect. The law, which contained exceptions for medical emergencies, rape, incest and fetal abnormalities, was blocked by a 2019 district court ruling.
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While it references the 2018 law, Reynolds’ order doesn’t explicitly define the restrictions she says lawmakers should now enact.
Some in the state want lawmakers to go further.
“We will always encourage and advocate for the day when all innocent life is cherished and protected by law, from conception to natural death. But at the very least, we want Heartbeat to be repeated,” said Drew Zahn, a spokesman for the conservative Christian group The Family Leader said in a text message.
Any new law will likely be challenged in state court.
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The Iowa Supreme Court has not yet decided whether previous rulings applying an “unnecessary burden test” to abortion laws will stand. The unnecessary burden is a moderate level of control that requires laws not to be a significant obstacle to abortion. State attorneys argued that the law should be analyzed using rational basis judgment, the lowest level of scrutiny to assess legal challenges.
“The constitutional standard is clear in the state of Iowa and to see a state governor reject the rule of law in Iowa is really, really disturbing to me,” said Pete McRoberts, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. “We will of course be there in full force when she convenes the legislature again.”
Reynolds has ordered a special session only one other year, in 2021, when lawmakers met in two separate special sessions to approve the drawing of congressional and legislative districts.
