Decades of abortion rulings led to a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court on Friday

The Iowa Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will rule Friday on a 2023 law that bans most abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.

It’s the latest in a long line of legal challenges over the status of abortion in Iowa, and the second involving so-called “fetal heartbeat” legislation.

It will be the sixth case in the past eight years to be titled “Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Kim Reynolds,” as the reproductive rights organization has repeatedly clashed with Iowa’s Republican governor and legislature.

Despite hundreds of pages of legal rulings, the court has so far left unanswered critical questions about what kind of abortion restrictions are allowed under the Iowa Constitution.

Here are some of the key points and lawsuits that led to Friday’s ruling.

1973: Roe v. Wade protects the right to abortion

The landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court establishes for the first time a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. It applies nationwide and in one fell swoop overrides all state laws banning abortion, including in Iowa.

1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey sets the standard for ‘excessive burdens’

In its 5-4 Casey decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Roe and for the first time proposed a new legal standard for abortion law. States cannot restrict abortion if the laws would impose an “excessive burden,” which the Court defines as a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus becomes viable.”

2015: Planned Parenthood v. Reynolds I

In 2013, state regulators banned the provision of abortion-inducing pills via telemedicine. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sues, and the Iowa Supreme Court strikes down the new rules two years later.

The court’s opinion does not substantively specify what the legal standard for abortion restrictions should be under the Iowa Constitution, but states that women’s right to abortion under the state constitution is “coextensive” with their rights under the U.S. Constitution , meaning that the Casey case The undue burden standard applies.

2018: Iowa Supreme Court calls abortion ‘fundamental right’

Three years later, the Iowa Supreme Court goes further, ruling that there is a “fundamental right” under the state constitution to obtain an abortion.

The court’s 2018 decision strikes down a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for abortions and sets an extremely high bar for future laws seeking to restrict access to abortion. Such laws must pass a ‘strict scrutiny’, the highest level of constitutional review, the court ruled.

Shortly before the verdict, Reynolds signs a “fetal heartbeat” restriction, which prohibits abortions when fetal heart activity is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy. The courts quickly block the law under the strict standard of review.

2022: Court revokes ruling on ‘fundamental right’

Four years later, a now more conservative Iowa Supreme Court reverses itself, ruling that there is no fundamental right to abortion under the Iowa Constitution and upholding a law creating a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.

The justices, more than half of whom Reynolds has appointed to the court since 2018, reject their previous precedent but do not decide what the appropriate constitutional standard should be. Instead, the plurality opinion leaves in place the 2015 decision, declaring the Iowa law “co-extensive” with the federal standard for undue burden.

2022: Dobbs decision overturns Roe v Wade

A week after the Iowa Supreme Court overturned its 2018 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court is also reversing its previous abortion precedents. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court overturns both Roe and Casey, ruling that at the federal level the standard for laws restricting abortion is a rational basis assessment – a determination of whether the government has a legitimate reason to impose a restriction , such as, in the case of abortion, protecting the lives of unborn children.

2023: Iowa judges are split 3-3 on excessive burdens

Following state and federal decisions in 2022, the state is seeking to lift the permanent injunction blocking Iowa’s 2018 fetal heart rate law. The district judge refuses, finding that under the 2022 Iowa decision, undue burden remains the law of the land.

Reynolds appeals again, but this time the Iowa Supreme Court deadlocks 3-3, dismissing Judge Dana Oxley. Oxley did not give a reason for her refusal, but before joining the court she had been an attorney at a law firm that represented an abortion clinic in that case. The tie means that the court’s decision is automatically upheld, meaning the law remains in force.

Related: The Iowa Supreme Court’s tie vote on a six-week abortion ban puts the focus on Judge Dana Oxley

The justices exchange unusually sharp opinions, with three suggesting they remain open to the excessive burden standard, and three arguing for a lower rational basis review.

2023: Legislature passes new “fetal heartbeat” law

In response to the court impasse, Reynolds calls lawmakers back for a special session, and they pass a new bill very similar to the 2018 law, which would again ban most abortions after about six weeks.

Planned Parenthood files another lawsuit and a district judge again blocks the law, ruling that under the 2015 ruling in Planned Parenthood I, undue burden is still the standard for Iowa abortion laws. The state appeals.

2024: Planned Parenthood v. Reynolds VI

The court, this time with the participation of all seven judges, will rule on that appeal on Friday.

Coming soon: another abortion ruling from the US Supreme Court

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue another decision on reproductive rights in late June.

From USA Today: The Supreme Court is taking action as Trump, abortion and social media decisions loom

The court will decide whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to provide “medically necessary care,” which in some cases includes abortion, preempts an Idaho law that bars doctors from performing abortions, subject to limited exceptions .

This month, the court already dismissed an challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s long-standing approval of mifepristone, one of the drugs commonly used to end a pregnancy during the first ten weeks.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at [email protected] or 715-573-8166.