Iowans supporting access to abortion rally on Thursday, April 11, 2024, outside the courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa, where the Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments on the state's restrictive abortion law. The law that bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
Hannah Fingerhut/AP
Leviticus 24:17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.
Important Takeaways:
- That will replace the state’s current ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
- Abortions after six weeks of pregnancy will be allowed in cases of rape if the assault is reported to law enforcement within 45 days, in cases of incest reported within 140 days, and if the pregnancy endangers the life of the pregnant person. It allows abortion in the case of life-threatening fetal abnormalities.
- The law had been in effect for a few days after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it last year but was blocked by a lower court in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
- Today the court found that there is a “rational basis” to write a law banning abortion based on the detection of a fetal heartbeat, stating, “We conclude that the fetal heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life.”
- The Midwest is still a mixed picture for abortion rights. Neighboring Iowa are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas and Illinois that still allow access to abortion beyond 20 weeks. But Missouri and the Dakotas have near-total bans and Nebraska has a 12-week ban.
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