Gov. Reynolds asks Iowa Supreme Court to allow fetal heartbeat law to take effect
Gov. Kim Reynolds gives the Condition of the State address to members of the Iowa Legislature inside the House Chamber, on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, at the Iowa State Capitol, in Des Moines. (Kelsey Kremer/The Des Moines Register via AP)
(ABC 6 News) – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom representing the Governor, asked the Iowa Supreme Court on Monday to allow the state’s fetal heartbeat law to take effect.
That law was enacted in 2018 to protect unborn lives by prohibiting elective abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks into pregnancy and is often before many women know they’re pregnant.
Back in 2019, a state trial court put the fetal heartbeat law on hold based on an Iowa Supreme Court case that had found a state constitutional right to an abortion.
RELATED: Iowa judge blocks effort to ban most abortions in the state
However, in June 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed the decision saying the court wrongly decided abortion is among the fundamental privacy rights guaranteed by the Iowa Constitution and federal law.
Gov. Reynolds argued that because of decisions in 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court in overturning Roe v. Wade, and the Iowa Supreme Court that found woman have no constitutional right to abortion, the Iowa judge should reverse the 2019 decision blocking the abortion law.
Gov. Reynolds filed to challenge the injunction last year as well, but a state judge ruled that state law didn’t give her the power to dissolve the permanent injunction and let the new abortion law take effect.