Hundreds of Iowans rally in the Iowa Capitol rotunda July 11, 2023 during a special legislative session on abortion. (Photo by Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
On the second anniversary of Roe v. Wade being overturned, Iowa Democrats, reproductive health care providers and advocates said Monday they are preparing for an Iowa Supreme Court decision on the state’s six-week abortion ban — and preparing to campaign on those issues for the 2024 general election.
Planned Parenthood North Central States hosted a virtual roundtable discussion Monday on how access to abortion and reproductive health care has changed in the Midwest since June 24, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, finding that there is not a constitutional right to abortion. The decision overturned more than 40 years of national guaranteed abortion access under the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and gave states the ability to set their own regulations and laws on abortion.
House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said in the meeting that abortion access, as well as other reproductive and maternal health care resources, have been put at risk by the Dobbs decision.
“At the end of the day, reproductive freedom is under attack in Iowa,” Konfrst said. “Folks are looking to control women and to control our bodies, and they’re successful in many ways — and elections can help change that.”
Some states had abortion bans triggered by the court decision, while legislatures in other states passed new abortion bans and restrictions in the months that followed. Iowa was in a unique position when the 2022 ruling was released, with the Iowa Supreme Court having ruled earlier in the year that there is no state constitutional right to an abortion. The decision came during a court battle over a 2018 law that sought to ban most abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy, when cardiac impulses can be detected in an embryo. The law includes exceptions in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.
That law was blocked from enforcement in 2019, and the injunction was ultimately upheld in 2023 by the state Supreme Court in a 3-3 ruling.
In the decision, Justice Thomas D. Waterman wrote that removing the injunction would be “legislating from the bench,” as the measure was initially passed when abortion was a guaranteed right under both the U.S. and Iowa constitutions. He also wrote “uncertainty exists about whether a fetal-heartbeat bill would be passed today.”
Following the decision to uphold the injunction, Gov. Kim Reynolds convened a special session of the Iowa legislature in July 2023 and signed into law another version of the so-called “fetal heartbeat” ban. The new measure is currently being weighed by the Iowa Supreme Court, with a ruling expected Friday, June 28.
Iowans both opposing and supporting legal abortion have rallied at the Iowa State Capitol in recent days ahead of the anticipated decision. At a “March for Life” event Saturday, Attorney General Brenna Bird told the crowd that their faith has helped propel the approval of abortion restrictions in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.
“We are filled with love, joy and hope because of the faith that we have, because we know that everyone matters and that includes the unborn, the innocent unborn — they matter just like everybody else,” Bird said.
Bird and attorneys representing the State of Iowa have argued laws restricting access to abortion should be evaluated using the “rational basis” test, a lower legal standard that deems laws constitutional if the state has a legitimate reason to enact the measure. But attorneys with Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Iowa have called for the Iowa Supreme Court to use the “undue burden” standard — determining whether laws are overly burdensome or restrictive of individual’s fundamental rights — to review abortion laws.
Leah Vanden Bosch, development and outreach director for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund, emphasized in the Monday discussion that abortion is still currently legal in Iowa at up to 20 weeks of gestation. However, she said, that it is “very difficult to access care” in Iowa.
There are currently four abortion providers in Iowa — Planned Parenthood clinics in Ames, Iowa City and Sioux City, as well as the Emma Goldman Clinic for Women in Iowa City. For people living outside of these cities, travel to the clinics may pose a barrier for those seeking the medical procedure, Vanden Bosch said. Alongside limited provider options, state laws requiring a 24-hour waiting period and an ultrasound before receiving an abortion increase the time and expense associated with accessing abortion care, she said.
However, Vanden Bosch said those costs are exactly what the Iowa Abortion Access Fund seeks to address.
“The Iowa Abortion Access Fund is currently able to fund abortion care specifically, however, there are other funds (where) we’re able to help with practical support costs such as travel and lodging, child care — so we’re also here to help connect clients to additional resources as needed,” Vanden Bosch said. “But right now … as restrictions continue across the country, the work of abortion funds is so critical. Numbers are showing us that restrictions or a ban will never stop the need for abortion care.”
Regardless of the state Supreme Court decision, Konfrst said that abortion and reproductive health care will be top-of-mind issues for Iowa voters in the upcoming general election. In addition to abortion restrictions, Konfrst said Democrats will be campaigning on related issues that came up during the 2024 legislative session, such as a bill on “unborn person” language that could impact access to in-vitro fertilization.
“We’re seeing that this issue is one that Iowans will be considering this fall,” Konfrst said. “And we encourage folks to support reproductive freedom champions. Not all of these things have passed because of reproductive freedom champions in the Iowa legislature, and we can start to turn things around.”
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