Reckless abortion ruling will harm Iowa women

Iowa’s highest court on Friday decided that the fate of an embryo is more important than the reproductive rights of living, breathing women. It marks a dark day in a state that once prided itself on its historic defense of citizen’s rights.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that banning abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy is constitutional. The ruling upholds a law approved last summer during a special legislative session, to so-called “heartbeat bill.” Even its name is dishonest, considering, according to doctors, a fetal heart doesn’t develop until weeks later.

The court majority decided the state had a “rational basis” for passing the law to protect the unborn. Rational basis is the lowest hurdle the government must clear to enact the law. Laws that target fundamental rights are subject to strict scrutiny, a much tougher test. But the Iowa court has ruled that access to abortion is not a fundamental right.

The court could have come down in the middle by finding the six-week ban would place an “undue burden” on Iowa women. Instead, it gave abortion rights opponents a total victory in a state where polls show a clear majority of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

We think Chief Justice Susan Christensen summed up the court’s reckless ruling well in her scathing dissenting opinion.

“Today, our court’s majority strips Iowa women of their bodily autonomy by holding there is no fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy under our state constitution. I cannot stand by this decision,” Christensen wrote in her opening paragraph. “The majority’s rigid approach relies heavily on the male-dominated history and traditions of the 1800s, all the while ignoring how far women’s rights have come since the Civil War era.

In closing, Christensen wrote, “In my opinion, the only female lives that this statute treats with any meaningful regard and dignity are the unborn lives of a female fetus. After that, this statute forces pregnant women (and young girls) to endure and suffer through life altering health consequences that range from severe sepsis requiring a limb amputation to a hysterectomy so long as those women are not at death’s door.”

Iowa’s law provides exceptions for rape, so long as it’s reported within 40 days, incest, so long as it’s reported within 140 days, miscarriages, fetal abnormalities, and medical emergencies. As in other states, the exceptions will be insufficient in many heart wrenching cases. Doctors must decide when a mother’s life is at stake with their medical license on the line.

After lower court rulings put the law on hold, the loss of abortion rights in Iowa is now real. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Republican Legislature made this happen and will own the consequences. Fortunately, Iowa women still have the right to vote on Nov. 5.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com