60 Iowa lawmakers ask court to overturn 2018 abortion ruling

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DAVID PITT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sixty Iowa Republican legislators are asking the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn a 2018 ruling that declared abortion a fundamental right under the state Constitution.

Attorneys for conservative groups opposing abortion filed a brief with the court Monday on behalf of 22 senators and 38 House members, all Republicans. The groups include Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom and Iowa-based The Family Leader.

In June 2020, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sued, and a judge struck the law down this June, citing the 2018 ruling.

The judge also concluded that Republican legislative leaders violated a long-standing state law prohibiting passage of bills with more than one subject. The abortion language was a last minute amendment to an unrelated bill passed late on the last day of the 2020 legislative session.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-courts-laws-iowa-95669bb297ae9dd8eb54f31ffd91aad8

[machoneman]

1. And now it starts! Or maybe continues. The Texas ruling, to no one's surprise, has fomented....

..this idea that R's everywhere can control women's bodies at the drop of a hat. Sad indeed.

[peppertree]

2. Mind you these are always the SAME people, that if their 'little sunshine' ever got knock up,

they'd call every number and turn over every rock to get an abortion for her.

And if she were knocked up by some "undesirable"?

Shoot - they'd rip the thing out themselves.

[Vogon_Glory]

5. Be interesting to seee how many of these anti-abortion politicians would

get nailed if Iowa follows in The Texas legislature’s vile footsteps.

[peppertree]

6. +1

And, say, Tennessee.



Scott "Abort, woman!" DesJarlais

[riversedge]

3. like a festering boil, the gates are open. damn

[stillcool]

4. Just like domino's

they're all in, thick as thieves, working off the same play book.

[rsdsharp]

7. I see neither standing, nor a case and controversy here.

At least not as the story is written. I practiced with three of the seven Iowa justices. I may be wrong, but I don’t see this going anywhere.

[progressoid]

8. ironically, abortions are rising under Iowa's GOP leadership.

About 14 percent more abortions were performed in Iowa during calendar year 2020 compared to the previous year, indicating that a sharp increase recorded in 2019 was not a one-off.

Iowa Department of Public Health data shows 4,058 pregnancy terminations occurred during 2020, up from 3,566 abortions performed in 2019. That number represented a 25 percent increase from the 2,849 abortions recorded in 2018.

Prior to 2019, abortions were on a steady downward trend in Iowa and nationally for at least a decade. The figure recorded for 2020 was the highest since 2013.

...

The Republican-controlled Iowa legislature replaced the long-established Iowa Family Planning Network in 2017, creating a new state-run family planning program with the sole purpose of excluding Planned Parenthood as a provider. At that time, Democratic lawmakers including State Senator Janet Petersen warned that reducing access to contraceptive and other non-abortion services would produce more unintended pregnancies and more abortions.

The number of Iowans using services through the state’s new family planning program quickly dropped by nearly 75 percent, the Des Moines Register reported in late 2019.

...https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2021/07/15/iowa-abortions-increase-for-second-straight-year/