Washington D.C., Jul 6, 2023 / 16:00 pm
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is calling lawmakers back to Des Moines on July 11 to hold a single-issue special session in which lawmakers will consider new abortion restrictions after the last effort was halted by the state Supreme Court.
“Iowans have elected representatives willing to stand up for the rights of the unborn and, in doing so, they have voted strongly in support of pro-life principles and against the arbitrary destruction of innocent, defenseless lives,” Reynolds said in a statement.
Lawmakers passed a six-week abortion ban in 2018, which would have prohibited abortion once a fetal heartbeat could be detected. A lower court blocked the enforcement of the law, which was incompatible with U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in Roe v. Wade at the time.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, which returned abortion regulations back to the states. Even though the precedent has changed since the lower court ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court still refused to hear the state’s appeal, partly because more than four years had already passed since the legislation was originally signed.