Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has called for a special session of the state legislature to pass a new law protecting babies from abortions.
Her call comes after the Iowa Supreme Court, on a narrow 3-3 decision, struck down a law the legislature passed before the Dobbs case that would protect the lives of unborn babies who have a detectable heartbeat. The state court’s decision set forth parameters that the legislature could use to pass a new heartbeat law that would be found constitutional and add Iowa to the list of states providing legal protection for unborn children.
The session will begin next week on Tuesday, July 11.
“Iowans have elected representatives willing to stand up for the rights of the unborn and, in doing so, they have voted strongly in support of pro-life principles and against the arbitrary destruction of innocent, defenseless lives,” Reynolds said Wednesday.
Reynolds’ office challenged a 2019 Iowa Supreme Court ruling that blocked the law, which protects unborn babies by prohibiting most abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy. She hoped the state’s highest court would overturn its previous decision blocking the law in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs allowing states to protect babies from abortions.
Instead, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. The court has seven members but one justice declined to participate because her former law firm had represented an abortionist.
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Justice Thomas Waterman wrote for the three justices who voted to block the pro-life 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,” he said.
The ruling means Iowa will need to pass a new law protecting babies from abortions. That would be more likely to be upheld after the Dobbs ruling and the Iowa Supreme Court decision confirming there is no right to an abortion.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Chris Schandevel confirmed that the ruling means Iowa can pass a new heartbeat law protecting babies that might be upheld.
“States have the strongest possible interest in protecting the most fundamental of our human rights—the right to life. Iowans are eager to affirm that life is a human right, which is why the legislature passed the fetal heartbeat law five years ago,” he explained.
“Iowans will surely be disappointed by today’s result, and rightly so. But even the three justices who voted against Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law agreed that the same law, passed again today, might finally be allowed to take effect,’ he told LifeNews. “It is time for the Iowa Legislature to act—once again—to protect life. The legislature should redouble its life-saving efforts to enshrine into law further protections for unborn children. Iowa women deserve the dignity and respect that comes from receiving life-affirming health care—not the abortion industry’s false choice between doing what’s best for the mother and protecting the life of her child.”
For now, the ruling means babies can be killed in Iowa up to 20 weeks.
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade last year was just the beginning,” Reynolds said. “And since then, we’ve seen some in our movement concede ground to abortion extremists. Not in Iowa and not on my watch.”
She said a child’s right to life is “the most important freedom of all.”
“I will always be front and center in this fight,” Reynolds said. “I will not rest until Iowa’s courts allow the will of the people to finally take effect, until every unborn child has the chance to experience the greatest gift that our Lord endowed upon us: life.”
In 2020, 4,058 abortions were reported in the state, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a historic victory for life and returned the power to legislate abortion to the people. Because of Dobbs v. Jackson, states may protect unborn babies from abortion for the first time in nearly 50 years.
