A judge in Iowa blocked the enforcement of a six-week abortion ban—signed into law by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds just days earlier—on Monday, meaning abortion in the state will remain legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while legal challenges play out.
On Monday, July 17, 2023, an Iowa judge temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions ... [+]
Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin heard a legal challenge to the policy from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic on Friday—the same day Reynolds signed the abortion bill—but didn’t make a decision on an injunction then, saying he would take the issue under advisement.
On Monday, he issued a temporary injunction, saying the decision relied on the “undue burden” test—which requires that laws don’t create a significant obstacle to abortion—and that under that standard he determined “abortion advocates are likely right to say the new law violates Iowans’ constitutional rights,” the Associated Press reported.
Though the law is temporarily paused, Seidlin said the state’s Board of Medicine should go forward in making rules for enforcement so guidance is in place if the law goes into effect in the future.
“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 in a statement released shortly after the injunction was issued.
Reynolds signed the “fetal heartbeat” legislation into law on Friday. After signing, she declared “protecting unborn human lives from the atrocity of abortion” as “the most important human rights cause of our time.”