Des Moines, Ia (KHQA)- Republicans on an Iowa Senate panel Tuesday approved a bill that would require women wait three days before getting an abortion, despite an Iowa Supreme Court ruling that struck down the same 72-hour waiting period as unconstitutional in 2018.
Two years ago, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down another 72-hour waiting period requirement in a law signed by then-Gov. Terry Branstad. The landmark 5-2 decision ruled that the mandated delay before getting an abortion is unconstitutional and found women have a fundamental right to the procedure under the Iowa Constitution.
The new bill, approved by a subcommittee in the Iowa Senate on Tuesday, would implement another 72-hour waiting period provision in addition to other new requirements of doctors before performing an abortion.
“What the legislature is doing is literally passing a law that the court has already found to be unconstitutional,” Daniel Zeno, policy director for the ACLU of Iowa, said at the hearing.
Republican lawmakers have since condemned that Supreme Court ruling as so-called judicial activism—and it has thwarted their efforts to pass further abortion restrictions. A “fetal heartbeat” six-week abortion ban was struck down in district court by a judge, who cited that decision.
But the make-up of the state’s highest court is different than it was in 2018. Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has made three appointments and will make a fourth later this Spring when Justice David Wiggins is set to retire.
Zaun said the Supreme Court’s new composition is “absolutely” part of the reason he brought the bill forward.
“Obviously the legislature believes in this, at least as of a couple of years ago. This is just a reintroduction of it. And if it is challenged—which I’m assuming it will—maybe it will end up at the Supreme Court and there is new people,” Zaun said, adding he was “disappointed” by the Supreme Court ruling.
Current law requires an ultrasound before an abortion. This measure mandates that doctors not only administer the ultrasound but also show it to the patient and explain it. Medical professionals would also be required to detect a fetal heartbeat so “that the pregnant woman may hear the heartbeat if the heartbeat is audible.”
Abortion rights advocates argue these additional requirements are more intrusive.
“This bill substitutes a government mandate for a doctor’s judgment about how to counsel and interact with a patient,” said Jamie Burch Elliott, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood.
This is just the latest in a series of abortion-related legislation introduced by Republicans at the statehouse. The Iowa Senate last week approved a constitutional amendment saying women aren’t guaranteed a right to an abortion, a measure seeking to upend the very Supreme Court decision at issue. Amending the state constitution takes years.
“These are life-altering decisions that shouldn’t be made at the whim of a decision. It is appropriate to have a waiting period,” said Sen. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, who supports the bill. “The court did get it wrong. Frankly, I don’t know of a nicer word than ‘judicial activism.’ I’ve kind of scaled it back from ‘judicial tyranny.'”
