Iowa abortion law requiring 72-hour waiting period sent back to District Court

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to keep an injunction in place lifting a 72-hour mandatory waiting period before a woman can receive an abortion while the matter is sent back to the Polk County District Court for a hearing.

The District Court must set a hearing within 30 days, and the injunction will remain in place until 10 days after the court has entered an order on the final hearing.

On Friday, Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation that created new abortion restrictions, including a ban for most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and a 72-hour waiting period for every woman seeking the medical procedure. Soon after, the Iowa Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction against enforcing the three-day waiting period, which allowed the 44 women who already had procedures scheduled for Friday to obtain them.

The decision came in response to a Thursday ruling by a Polk County judge, who rejected the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's request to stop implementation of the law until the matter can be decided in court.

'This is another step in the legal process regarding the 72-hour waiting period,” Ben Hammes, spokesman for Branstad, said Tuesday. 'The governor and lieutenant governor fully believe this protection will ultimately be upheld ...

and are proud of the pro-life policies enacted this (legislative) session, including the 72-hour waiting period being challenged and the ban on abortions after 20 weeks, which is not being challenged.”

'We appreciate the Supreme Court moving so quickly to address the preliminary motions in this important case,” said Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General. 'Our office will focus our attention to developing a full record on the merits of the lawsuit.”

Twenty-seven other states already have enacted waiting periods, according to information from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health care policy and research organization - though Iowa joins only a handful of states that have extended that time frame to three days.

Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah require a 72-hour waiting period while another 19 require 24 hours and three require 48 hours.

ACLU and Planned Parenthood both expressed relief on Tuesday that the court continued to block what they believe is a 'medically unnecessary” second appointment.

'Critically important, this means that currently women scheduled to have abortion procedures will be able to receive care as scheduled,” Rita Bettis, ACLU of Iowa legal director, said in a statement. 'This is essential. We know that in (the) less than only two hours the law was in effect on Friday, its harms were severely felt by Iowa women with abortion procedures scheduled.”

According to court documents filed by the groups on Monday, Planned Parenthood clinics offering abortion services experienced a great deal of confusion on Friday as staff had to turn away patients, many of whom traveled hours to the clinic, only later to call to inform those patients they could obtain the procedure.

'We are pleased and relieved by today's ruling by the Court and that for now we can continue providing the health care that women have come to rely on,” said Suzanna de Baca, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, in a statement.

'We are hopeful that the court will ultimately agree that Iowa women, whose right to safe, legal abortion has been accepted law for 44 years, continue to have the protection that has been guaranteed under the Iowa Constitution.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8331; chelsea.keenan@thegazette.com