Iowa Supreme Court abortion ban ruling coming Friday

The Iowa Supreme Court will release a highly anticipated ruling Friday that could have massive implications for the ability of women to obtain abortions in Iowa.

At issue is a 2023 law banning most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy. A lower court blocked the law from going into effect, and Gov. Kim Reynolds has appealed that ruling.

Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird have asked the court to reverse a 2015 decision and hold the state must prove only that it has a “rational basis” for abortion restrictions, rather than having to show laws do not impose an “undue burden” on women seeking abortion.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which sued to block the law, has argued that the undue burden standard should remain, or alternatively, that the Supreme Court should remand the case for further proceedings, possibly setting up another appeal next year.

The decision will be the latest in a string of abortion-related cases to come before the state’s highest court. In 2023, the court considered a challenge to a previous version of the so-called “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban, but deadlocked 3-3. Nonbinding opinions from that case suggest at least three justices were in favor of the undue burden standard, and that the other three favored the easier rational basis test.

Justice Dana Oxley recused herself from that appeal but is participating in this year’s case, raising the possibility she could provide the tie-breaking vote to one side or the other.

With the six-week ban enjoined by the courts, abortion currently is permitted in Iowa up to the 20th week of pregnancy.

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