Abortion will remain legal in Iowa after the state’s high court declined to reinstate a law that would have largely banned the procedure.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds delivers her inaugural address, Jan. 13, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Writing for the three justices who denied the state’s request to reinstate the law, Justice Thomas Waterman said granting that request would mean bypassing the legislature, changing the standard for how the court reviews laws and then dissolving an injunction enacted by a lower court that blocked the law.“In our view it is legislating from the bench to take a statute that was moribund when it was enacted and has been enjoined for four years and then to put it in effect,” Waterman wrote.
Republicans hold large majorities in the state House and Senate, and leaders of both chambers criticized the ruling and suggested they will work toward passing new legislation. While the state’s high court maintains the block on the law, it does not preclude Reynolds and lawmakers from passing a new law that looks the same. The decision Friday was largely procedural — the 2022 appeal to the 2019 ruling was too late.Most Republican-led states have severely curtailed access to abortion in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women’s constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade and handing authority over the issue to states.
Because Friday’s decision was tied, the court affirms the lower court decision but otherwise the high court’s opinions have no other authority. That means earlier rulings that applied an “undue burden test” for abortion laws remains in effect.
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