On Friday, May 4, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 359—the most restrictive abortion law in the entire country. Because the law bars elective abortions if an ultrasound detects the fetus’s heartbeat, it’s aptly dubbed the “fetal heartbeat” abortion bill. However, an Iowan judged intercepted the bill, which would have prohibited any abortion after six weeks, minus abortions for cases of rape, incest and life-threatening medical emergencies.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Judge Michael Huppert, a judge from Polk County, IA, exercised a temporary injunction on the heartbeat bill. The interim injunction blocked the law from going into effect on its intended start date, on Friday, July 1.
Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law last month, barring women from receiving an abortion if an ultrasound detects a heartbeat, which usually appears about six weeks into pregnancy. https://t.co/5HdPTR8bB5
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) June 1, 2018
The Des Moines Register adds that shortly after Gov. Reynolds signed the bill last month, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sued Gov. Reynolds, the state of Iowa and the Iowa Board of Medicine. Likewise, a Planned Parenthood medical director Dr. Jill Meadows filed similar lawsuits against the three defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa also filled a formal lawsuit against the state of Iowa on May 15.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Dr. Meadows and the ACLU of Iowa filled their lawsuits on the grounds that Gov. Reynolds’s heartbeat bill violates women’s rights and therefore infringes on Iowa’s constitution.
KCCI 8 Des Moines notes that the Polk County judge decided to temporarily block the fetal heartbeat law after hearing testimonies from the ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood Federation of American and the Emma Goldman Clinic.
“No one should feel that there’s uncertainty about whether or not this law will suddenly take effect before this case is over. That’s not going to happen with this entry of the order today,” ACLU of Iowa attorney Rita Bettis tells KCCI 8.
Although Judge Huppert temporarily halted the fetal heartbeat law, USA Today reports that Gov. Reynolds claims the bill has “very positive feedback” from voters. While there isn’t a scheduled legal hearing regarding the multiple lawsuits against the fetal heartbeat bill (and how it pertains to the Iowa Constitution), this isn’t the first time that the state of Iowa has attempted to pass increasingly restrictive reproduction legislature.
The Des Moines Register reports that last year the state of Iowa attempted to pass Senate File 253, known as the “life at conception” bill as well as the “personhood” bill. Though the bill was ultimately annexed in the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee, it resurfaced in the 2018 session of the Iowa Legislature, according to the Register.
As the New York Times notes, the fetal heartbeat bill is likely just a pit spot on a long haul to challenge Roe v. Wade in the state of Iowa. Given Iowa’s consistent history of stringent reproductive legislation, including the current provisional laws, there could be an extended legal fight over the fetal heartbeat bill.
Nevertheless, the ACLU of Iowa and their legal allies will likely continue to petition the fetal heartbeat bill in the Iowa Supreme Court, according to WHO TV.