Iowa abortion rights survive, but could be lost in a year

Gov. Kim Reynolds will appeal a judge's decision to issue an injunction on a recently passed fetal heartbeat bill

Iowa’s abortion rights are in limbo right now after a district judge issued an injunction on a recently passed fetal heartbeat bill that would have limited abortions after six weeks. 

For the next year, the legal challenge will likely climb the appellate ladder all the way to the state supreme court, which had previously ruled to strike down a heartbeat bill due to procedural reasons. 

“If this law is allowed to be put into effect, it has the potential to harm thousands of people's lives in a lot of different ways,” said April Clark, a board member of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund. 

This all happened within a week’s time. Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special legislative session early last week, in which the bill got passed. She signed it on Friday and then a lawsuit was filed the same day by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, among other litigants. The judge ruled in the abortion rights movement’s favor, but the victory is tentative as Reynolds said she would appeal it to as high a court as she had to. 

Iowa currently has seven supreme court justices. One of them previously recused themselves on the last case, and it was deadlocked 3-3. Clark doesn’t know what will happen if there isn’t a tie-breaker this time around. But it’s likely that it would have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if the same thing occurred. 

“We do know that there's a conservative majority on the court,” Clark said. “So right now we're just all kind of bracing for that possibility that we might lose access next year.” 

Ballot initiatives are an option, but they require two readings within the state legislature to get on the ballot. And the state’s assembly is predominantly Republican, so it’s unlikely that effort would be successful. 

The other option would be shifting the Supreme Court in a liberal direction. According to Ballotopedia, Iowa state supreme court justices are selected through an assisted appointment with a governor-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the governor. They serve for eight years. 

“We're just gonna keep telling people to vote, to be involved, to write their legislators, their senators and house representatives and make sure that their voices are heard,” Clark said. “Really important election cycle next year. All across the country, not just in Iowa, so really important for people to get out and vote.”