Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs near-total abortion ban into law

DES MOINES — Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, citing a need to change a “destructive culture of abortion,” signed into law Friday a near-total ban on abortions in Iowa, passed three days ago during a special session of the Iowa Legislature.

On the same day, Polk County District Court Judge listened to a request from abortion providers and the ACLU of Iowa to halt enforcement of the new restrictions until its constitutionality can be considered by the courts.

The law takes immediate effect after District Judge Joseph Seidlin denied a request from attorneys for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Emma Goldman Clinic of Iowa City to immediately block enforcement.

Seidlin said he will not “flippantly rule from the bench just for expediency’s sake,” and said he hopes to have a ruling issued by the end of Monday, or Tuesday at the latest.

“I can’t think of anything that would be more insulting to either side for a judge,” who before Wednesday “had no idea that he was going to be involved in any of this — to listen to arguments and then rule from the bench … so flippantly without giving it any thought,” he said.

Reynolds signed the bill into law at the Christian conservative The Family Leader’s annual conference, which featured remarks from six GOP presidential candidates.

“We have a responsibility not only to protect the unborn in law, but to change the destructive culture of abortion that still exists in a post-Roe world,” Reynolds said of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision, overturned last year, that had provided a fundamental right to abortion in the country.

“Even with the fetal heartbeat bill, the fight continues for a robust culture of life that welcomes children, supports mothers and involves fathers,” she said. “As a pro-life governor, I will continue to promote policies designed to surround every person involved in a pregnancy with protection, love and support.”

The White House and Iowa Democrats swiftly condemned the bill’s signing.

“Iowa’s new law will penalize health care providers and cause delays and denials of health and life-saving care,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in statement. “While Republican elected officials advance dangerous laws, President Biden and Vice President Harris stand with the majority of Americans who believe personal health care decisions should be between a woman and her doctor, not politicians, and will continue to call on Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law.”

The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature passed House File 732 mostly along party lines, with Democrats opposed, during a one-day session Tuesday called by Reynolds.

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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.

Republican state lawmakers and Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined Reynolds on the event stage as she signed the bill into law. During her remarks, Reynolds called abortion “the most important human rights cause of our time.”

“Protecting unborn human lives from the atrocity of abortion, a worthy battle and one I will never concede,” she said.

Reynolds also criticized the three Iowa Supreme Court justices — all appointed by Republicans, and one by her — who declined to approve her request to lift a permanent injunction on a 2018 version of the abortion restrictions. The court deadlocked, 3-3, over the governor’s request, leaving in place the lower court’s decision to block the law, and leading to this week’s special session.

Reynolds said those three justices’ opinions contained “political rhetoric.”

Iowa doctors seek clarity, raise concerns of new law

Iowa OB-GYNs said a doctor's ability to detect embryonic cardiac activity varies between pregnancies, but can occur as early as six to eight weeks of pregnancy — 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.

Supporters say the presence of a “heartbeat” indicates life that merits equal protection under the law. Advocates for abortion rights say the new law would end 98 percent of abortions that are currently legal in Iowa.

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Physicians who perform an abortion in violation of the proposed law would face disciplinary action from the Iowa Board of Medicine, including the possibility of losing their license. The bill does not carry a criminal penalty for physicians.

A woman who receives an abortion would not face civil or criminal liability.

The bill states the law takes effect upon enactment, and directs the Board of Medicine to adopt rules to administer the bill. But with no rules, Iowa doctors have expressed concerns over the lack of clarity about when patients qualify for exceptions and whether doctors could face penalties or discipline for performing abortions.

While the ban contains some exceptions, opponents argue they are too narrow and unworkable. Iowa physicians warned the restrictions do not account for complications that occur during pregnancy, and will hinder their ability to provide medically necessary care and respond to time-sensitive issues.

Democrats hopeful court will intervene

Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, a Democratic from Windsor Heights, said she remains hopeful the district court will put on hold on the new law.

“Gov. Reynolds proved today that her bill to ban abortion was always about the special interests, not Iowans,” Konfrst said in a statement. “Iowans have been consistent — and demonstrated earlier this week — that they support reproductive freedom and want to keep their fundamental right to make health care decisions about their own bodies. Politicians and judges have no place interfering in someone else’s decisions about when to start a family.”

Iowa Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, echoed Konfrst.

“The lives and well-being of Iowa women are at risk for as long as this law is in effect,” Jochum said in a statement. “I look forward to the Iowa courts blocking this law, giving it the legal scrutiny it deserves, and ultimately declaring it unconstitutional.”

Arguments before the court

Peter Im, a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, argued in the court hearing 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, and the ability to “have control over their lives and their futures” and to make their own decisions about their health care.

Im said the law will have “devastating consequences for Iowans” and cause irreparable harm by subjecting Iowans to “unnecessary medical risks.”

Additionally, Im said the law will disproportionately harm women of color, those with disabilities and who lack the financial means to travel to other states to receive care.

“For many it’s not possible to travel out of state due to the financial and logistical burdens,” Im said. “Abortion is time-sensitive care and even small delays can have substantial consequences for patients.”

A total of 200 Iowa patients had abortions scheduled with Planned Parenthood and the Emma Goldman Clinic of Iowa City this week and next.

He said Planned Parenthood and Emma Goldman worked to schedule Friday appointments before the bill signing, and have been contacting patients to reschedule later appointments and, if possible, arrange to get care out of state.

“Patients need certainty,” Im said in asking the judge to rule from the bench Friday

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. To pass the test, laws need only be “rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest.”

Johnston noted the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling last year said states can regulate abortion for legitimate purposes, including the protection of prenatal life in all stages of development, and that the law protects unborn Iowans.

“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."

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