Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday signed one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans, though a judge could soon block the bill while legal challenges play out in court.
The Republican governor signed the newly passed legislation — which eliminates nearly all abortion procedures in the state after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they’re pregnant — during a large evangelical gathering in downtown Des Moines.
The Family Leadership Summit — a one-day event described as the “Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians seeking cultural transformation in the family, church, government and more” — also features former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a guest speaker. Several Republican presidential hopefuls, including Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, have confirmed their attendance.
Also on Friday afternoon, a judge in Polk County Court, in Des Moines, heard a challenge to the law filed by a group of reproduction rights advocates.
On Wednesday, a day after Republicans passed the ban, the American Civil Liberties of Iowa, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and the Emma Goldman Clinic, an Iowa City-based organization that focuses on reproductive healthcare, filed a legal challenge to the bill, asking a circuit court to stop the law from taking effect.
The groups seek a “temporary injunction to block the egregious abortion ban Iowa lawmakers rammed through during an unprecedented one-day special session.”
The bill passed late on Tuesday during a special session called by Reynolds about a month after the Iowa Supreme Court declined to reinstate a six-week abortion ban.
The session’s “sole purpose” was to enact anti-abortion legislation, the governor said last week.
Iowa District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin said he plans to make a decision early next week since it “requires [his] strong and lengthy attention,” NBC News reported.
In 2018, Planned Parenthood got the Iowa Supreme Court to block a “virtually identical” bill, which was signed by the governor. At the time, Iowa banned most abortion procedures after 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Last month, the state’s top court declined to reinstate the ban, leading the governor to call the special session.
With the governor’s signature, the bill went into effect immediately.
If it’s not blocked, “Iowans will face life-threatening barriers to getting desperately needed medical care — just as we have seen in other states with similar bans,” said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa.
