Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds promised Wednesday to appeal a judge’s ruling against a state pro-life waiting period law that helps mothers and unborn babies.
During a news conference, Reynolds said she believes the law eventually will be upheld as constitutional, KWWL News 7 reports.
“I absolutely don’t agree with the decision and that’s what the process is for,” she said. “We will appeal the decision, and we are pretty confident that we can get the outcome we are looking for.”
Earlier this week, Reynolds said the court was wrong to strike down “our efforts to protect all innocent human life.”
The state has 30 days to file an appeal, according to the report.
Please follow LifeNews.com on Gab for the latest pro-life news and info, free from social media censorship.
On Monday, District Court Judge Mitchell Turner permanently blocked the 2020 law, arguing that it violates two parts of the Iowa Constitution. Turner previously issued a temporary block on the law last year.
The law, challenged by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, ensures abortion facilities give women the opportunity to see their unborn babies on an ultrasound and hear their baby’s heartbeat at least 24 hours prior to the abortion. In addition, Iowa requires abortion facilities to provide women with information about abortion risks and resources available for parenting and adoption, and to confirm in writing that the women received it.
However, Turner said state lawmakers violated the “single-subject rule” in the state constitution when they passed the waiting period law as an amendment to an unrelated bill about life-sustaining medical care for children, according to the Des Moines Register.
He said the law also violates a 2018 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that found a right to abortion in the state constitution.
Pro-lifers are working to pass a state constitutional amendment to reverse the pro-abortion ruling and declare that there is no right to abortion or a taxpayer-funded abortion in the state. The amendment potentially could be on the ballot for voters’ approval in 2024, but it needs a second round of approval from the state legislature first.
There is more hope that the pro-life law will withstand a legal challenge. According to the Register, Reynolds appointed four new justices to the seven-member Iowa Supreme Court, and only one current justice was appointed by a Democrat. The U.S. Supreme Court also has upheld informed consent requirements for abortion.
Informed consent laws protect unborn babies from abortion and hurt the abortion industry’s profits. Research indicates that when women see ultrasound images of their unborn babies, they are more likely to choose life. A 2017 study out of the University of California San Francisco also suggests that some women do change their minds about abortion as a result of informed consent laws.
A majority of states require a waiting period prior to an abortion and 35 require informed consent counseling, which typically includes facts about an unborn baby’s development, the risks of abortion and alternatives to abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
