July 17 (UPI) — Three days after it was signed into law, a judge in Iowa has temporarily blocked the state’s new six-week abortion ban to allow a court challenge to play out.
Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin issued the order Monday, making abortion in Iowa legal once again up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The ruling comes three days after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s new abortion ban into law Friday, and after pro-choice advocates filed a court challenge.
“The court will grant the temporary injunction requested here. In doing so, it recognizes that there are good, honorable and intelligent people — morally, politically and legally — on both sides of this upsetting societal and constitutional dilemma,” Seidlin wrote. “Patience and perseverance are also hallmark traits on both sides, traits that continue to deserve respect.”
“The court believes it must follow current Iowa Supreme Court precedent and preserve the status quo ante while this litigation” moves forward, the judge added.
Iowa’s new law bans abortions once doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat in the embryo. Cardiac activity can usually be detected about six weeks into pregnancy. Reproductive rights advocates argue many women do not even know they are pregnant at six weeks. The law makes exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and medical emergencies.
Reynolds vowed Monday to appeal the ruling.
“The abortion industry’s attempt to thwart the will of Iowans and the voices of their elected representatives continues today,” Reynolds said in a statement. “But I will fight this all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court where we expect a decision that will finally provide justice for the unborn.”
The law, which was signed into law Friday, passed Iowa’s state House 56-34 and state Senate 32-17 earlier in the week.
Less than 12 hours after Iowa lawmakers passed the ban, pro-choice advocates, including Iowa’s American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, sued to block the law from going into effect.
