District Court judge blocks enforcement of Iowa abortion ban days after signed into law

A Polk County District Court judge temporarily blocked enforcement Monday of a new law signed just days earlier by Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds that would ban the vast majority of abortions in the state.

The order means abortion — for now — remains legal in Iowa up until 20 weeks of pregnancy.

District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin — who was appointed by Reynolds — granted a request from Iowa abortion providers to halt enforcement of the new restrictions until its constitutionality can be considered by the courts.

Temporary Injunction Ruling in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Inc., Emma Goldman Clinic and Sarah Trax... by Gazetteonline on Scribd

Reynolds signed House File 732 into law Friday afternoon at the Christian conservative Family Leadership Summit, after it was passed earlier in the week during a one-day special session of the Iowa Legislature. During her remarks, Reynolds called abortion “the most important human rights cause of our time.”

“In their own words, the abortion industry stressed the need for a temporary injunction so they could continue with 200 scheduled abortions in the next two weeks,” Reynolds said in statement Monday responding to the court order. “While life was protected for a few days, now even more innocent babies will be lost.

“The abortion industry’s attempt to thwart the will of Iowans and the voices of their elected representatives continues today, but I will fight this all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court where we expect a decision that will finally provide justice for the unborn,” Reynolds said.

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The law took immediate effect Friday after Seidlin rejected a request from the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Dr. Sarah Traxler to immediately block enforcement. Seidlin said he would have to “flippantly rule from the bench just for expediency’s sake” to grant the request, and that he hoped to have a ruling issued by the end of Monday — which he did.

HF 732 prohibits abortions once a “fetal heartbeat” — defined as “cardiac activity, the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac” — is detected. Doctors would be required to first perform an abdominal ultrasound to detect embryonic or fetal cardiac activity.

The law would change the amount of time that women have to seek an abortion from 20 weeks post-fertilization to as little as six weeks — before many women know they are pregnant. The bill includes exceptions for pregnancies that are the result of rape in cases reported within 45 days, and incest in cases reported within 140 days. It also includes exceptions for miscarriages, a fetal abnormality that would result in the infant’s death and for when the mother’s life is threatened.

“We are deeply relieved that the court granted this relief so essential health care in Iowa can continue,” Dr. Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks, medical director of the Emma Goldman Clinic, said in a statement. “We are also acutely aware that the relief is only pending further litigation and the future of abortion in Iowa remains tenuous and threatened.”

Seidlin’s order temporarily bars, or enjoins, the state from enforcing HF 732, with the exception of a requirement directing the Iowa Board of Medicine to adopt rules to administer the bill. “Should the injunction entered today ultimately be dissolved, it would only benefit all involved, patients and providers alike, to have rules in place to administer the law,” Seidlin wrote in his order.

Peter Im, a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, argued in court Friday that the law “unquestionably imposes an undue burden” on Iowans’ access to abortion care and violates their constitutional rights to due process, dominion over one’s body, the ability to “have control over their lives and their futures” and to make their own decisions about their health care.

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While the ban contains some exceptions for abortions, Iowa physicians have warned the restrictions do not account for complications that occur during pregnancy, and will hinder their ability to provide necessary care and respond to time-sensitive issues.

In the wake of Iowa and U.S. Supreme Court rulings reversing a fundamental right to abortion, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Daniel Johnston argued a new “rational basis” test now applies in court. To pass the test, laws need only be “rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest.”

“The fetal heartbeat bill aims to prevent the destruction of human lives, and the court must take those lives into account in its analysis,” Johnston said. "The status quo is precisely the thing that the state believes is harmful."

While the Iowa Supreme Court last year held the Iowa Constitution does not guarantee a fundamental right to abortion subject to strict scrutiny, Seidlin wrote “the current state of the law in Iowa remains, at least for the time being, that some level of constitutional protection applies to women seeking abortion in Iowa, requiring an undue burden standard for analysis.”

Seidlin cited the state Supreme Court’s 2022 plurality decision from Justice Edward Mansfield, who was appointed by former Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican. Mansfield wrote the undue burden test “remains the governing standard.”

“This court is not at liberty to overturn precedent of our Supreme Court,” Seidlin wrote.

The state would have to ask for the Iowa Supreme Court’s permission to appeal and stay the lower court’s order, Im said. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

“We certainly hope the Iowa Supreme Court will stick by its precedents and will continue to require that abortion restrictions meet that standard,” Im told reporters Monday. “... Of course, the court can change its mind.”

Ruth Richardson, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said “the fight to preserve Iowans’ fundamental right to reproductive freedom is far from over.”

“While we know that the state may seek an appeal, we are proud to resume services for our patients and provide patient outreach to help break through the state of manufactured chaos” and confusion, Richardson told reporters on an online call.

Richardson said Planned Parenthood staff stayed late Thursday “to ensure we that we could help as many patients as possible” before the law went into effect. She did not have specific numbers for patients who traveled out of state to receive care, or whose abortion appointments were rescheduled, but said staff received “hundreds of phone calls” from Iowans confused “over what types of health care they’re able to access.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Western Regional Director Adam Schwend, in a statement after the ruling, said: “Activist judges must stop interfering on behalf of the radical abortion lobby and respect the will of the people.”

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