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Advocates are decrying Iowa’s heartbeat abortion ban as “devastating” as the restrictive law went into effect on Monday morning, complicating the already dire abortion landscape in the Midwest.
Last week, a judge ordered the six-week ban to take effect today at 8 a.m. That ruling came after the state’s supreme court cleared the way for the law when it reversed the year-long temporary injunction on June 28. Limited exceptions are available in the case of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
The Iowa Abortion Access Fund, considered one of the oldest abortion funds in the nation, condemned the ruling: “We now live in a state where pregnant people have fewer rights than a bag of trash.”
The statement referred to an Iowa supreme court justice’s 2023 opinion to block the enforcement of the fetal heartbeat bill: “It would be ironic and troubling for our court to become the first state supreme court in the nation to hold that trash set out in a garbage can for collection is entitled to more constitutional protection than a woman’s interest in autonomy and dominion over her own body.”
“People with uteruses in the state now have less of an expectation of privacy about their own bodies than a bag of trash sitting on the curb,” Lyz Lenz, who sits on the Board of Directors, told The Independent.
She pointed out that the state already has the fewest OB-GYNs per capita. “The reality is that not only is this ban going to have a devastating effect on people who need reproductive health care, but it's also going to force doctors out of the state because it's written so poorly, and so vaguely that the enforcement mechanisms are really unclear.”
The fund announced it planned to partner with Chicago Abortion Fund — which received a 165 percent hike in support requests from Iowans during the first three weeks of July compared to previous months.
The influx of calls shows “the confusion, the need, and I think the fear that exists in our community for how people are going to be able to access the care that they need,” Lenz said.
The Chicago Abortion Fund will “take care of answering the phone lines and pointing people to reach out to state resources because a lot of Iowans will end up going to Chicago anyway for this kind of help,” Lenz explained. In 2023, the Chicago Abortion Fund received support requests from more than 12,000 people from nearly every state, according to the Chicago group.
A host of other abortion advocates have condemned the ban and the ruling that preceded it.
“Extreme bans and restrictions on abortion have life-threatening consequences for people seeking this essential, time-sensitive care,” Dr Raegan McDonald-Mosley, OB-GYN and CEO of Power to Decide, told The Independent in a statement. “Iowa is the latest state to enact a 6-week ban, which will have devastating impacts on people and providers throughout the state and beyond. Abortion is health care, and no one should be denied abortion or have to jump through unnecessary barriers to get it.”
Others have decried the decision as “dangerous and reprehensible,” “a devastating blow to reproductive freedom and health care in Iowa” and a “severe setback.”
Rita Bettis Austen, the legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, in a statement warned that “many Iowans will need this care and now will face unjust and, for some, impossible obstacles in getting it…Others will face serious and even life-threatening health consequences as a result of this dangerous and poorly written law. Some will be forced to remain pregnant against their will.”
Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement: “Iowa will become the 18th state with a total or near-total abortion ban. We already know how Iowans will be hurt because it’s currently a grim reality in vast swaths of the South and Mid-West.”
There are currently two clinics that provide the procedure in Iowa, according to AbortionFinder.
Until a few weeks ago, the state boasted three providers, but one stopped on July 19. That clinic encouraged those in need of in-person abortion services to travel to Skokie, a Chicago suburb, and those looking for at-home care to travel to Minnesota, where abortion pills can be mailed.
Others have remarked on how Iowa’s restrictions are likely to impact states across the midwest.
Speaking to Iowa Public Radio, Planned Parenthood North Central States Chief Medical Officer Sarah Traxler predicted the ban will “have pretty resounding impacts on the region itself, especially the Midwest in the South,” she said. “I imagine we will be seeing people from Missouri in Omaha and Minnesota.”
Traxler added that Planned Parenthood will be expanding its abortion care in its clinics in Minnesota and Nebraska.
“The whiplash that pregnant people in Iowa have had to face for years has finally reached its breaking point,” Alison Dreith, the director of strategic partnerships of abortion fund Midwest Access Coalition, told The Independent. Dreith clarified that“Iowans still have options to get to the abortion care they need, want, and deserve. Whether it’s traveling to Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, or beyond, we, along with our allies, will make sure clients’ practical support and funding needs are secured.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker in a post on X called the ban “disturbing” and offered support for pregnant people in Iowa.
Minnesota also invited Iowans with open arms. The state’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan told the Associated Press: “If you’re afraid, come to Minnesota, we’ve got you.”
The chaos comes after the Iowa Supreme Court’s June 28 decision that ordered for the injunction to be lifted.
In a scathing dissent, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen wrote on June 28: “The majority’s rigid approach relies heavily on the male-dominated history and traditions of the 1800s, all the while ignoring how far women’s rights have come since the Civil War era.”
She continued: “This statute forces pregnant women (and young girls) to endure and suffer through life-altering health complications that range from severe sepsis requiring limb amputation to a hysterectomy so long as those women are not at death’s door. All in the name of promoting unborn life—or, more accurately, birth.”
After the ruling, Iowa’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statement praising the decision: “There is no right more sacred than life, and nothing more worthy of our strongest defense than the innocent unborn. Iowa voters have spoken clearly through their elected representatives, both in 2018 when the original heartbeat bill was passed and signed into law, and again in 2023 when it passed by an even larger margin. I’m glad that the Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the will of the people of Iowa.”
