In Rare 3-3 Decision, Iowa Supreme Court Declines to Reinstate Law Largely Banning Abortion

The blocked law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

The court has seven members but one justice declined to participate. Her former law firm had represented an abortion provider. All of the justices were appointed by Republican governors and five were appointed by Reynolds.

“Senate Republicans have a consistent record of defending life, including the passage of the Heartbeat Bill,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver said in a statement. “We will work with Governor Reynolds and the House to advance pro-life policies to protect the unborn.” While the state’s high court maintains the block on the law, it does not preclude Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a new law that looks the same. The decision Friday was largely procedural — the 2022 appeal to the 2019 ruling was too late.Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women’s constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade and handing authority over the issue to states.

A state judge ruled last year that she had no authority to do so and Reynolds appealed to the state’s Supreme Court, which is now far more conservative than when the law was first passed. Reynolds appointed five of the court’s seven members. In his opinion supporting reversal of the law, Justice Christopher McDonald wrote that to reject the appeal and deny the reinstatement of a law is to curtail the power of the legislative branch. He goes on to argue that there has been substantial change in law that allows for the dissolution of the 2019 ruling.

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