Iowa top court rejects right to abortion, revives waiting period law
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[June 18, 2022]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) -Iowa's highest court on Friday
ruled that the state's constitution does not include a "fundamental
right" to abortion, reversing its own finding from four years ago and
reviving a law requiring women to wait 24 hours after an initial
appointment before getting an abortion.
The 5-2 ruling by the Supreme Court of Iowa overturned a lower court one
blocking the law, which had been challenged by a Planned Parenthood
affiliate. It comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected in coming
weeks to issue a major ruling that could dramatically curtail abortion
rights at the national level.
Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central
States, said the group was "deeply disappointed" by the ruling.
The group also noted that the ruling still leaves room to challenge the
24-hour waiting period in the lower court on the grounds that it imposes
an "undue burden" on women seeking abortion, and said it would pursue
that challenge.
The office of Iowa Attorney General Thomas Miller,
which defended the law, declined to comment.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed the 24-hour
waiting-period law in 2020. The state Supreme Court had struck down an
earlier law imposing a 72-hour waiting period in 2018, finding that the
state's constitution included a fundamental right to abortion.
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Anti-abortion protestors pray outside of the Supreme Court in
Washington, U.S., June 6, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Files
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Justice Edward Mansfield, writing for the majority on Friday, said
that the 2018 decision had been "flawed" and "one-sided."
Chief Justice Susan Christensen in a dissent said that the court was
too quick to overturn its earlier ruling. She noted that four of the
seven current justices - including herself - had been appointed
since 2018 by Reynolds.
If the U.S. Supreme Court rolls back abortion rights, state-level
legal battles over the issue are likely to become more frequent, as
Republican-led states move quickly to pass new abortion
restrictions.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Mark Porter
and Alexia Garamfalvi)
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