Polk County, Iowa — Although the United States Supreme Court in June stated that the United States Constitution did not guarantee a right to an abortion, and left it to the individual states, Judge Celene Gogerty has ruled that a state law that would ban most abortions is still unconstitutional and the permanent injunction barring it from taking effect remains in place.
Judge Gogerty is a District Court Judge in Polk County, Iowa.
In 2018, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill to make most abortions illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected. That’s about the sixth week of a pregnancy. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa immediately sued and prevented the law from taking effect. A district court judge issued a permanent injunction in 2019. Judge Gogerty has ruled she has no authority to lift that order and her ruling goes on to say it’s the Iowa Supreme Court, not the district court, that will decide what legal standards should be used to review abortion-related cases.
Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s very disappointed in the district court’s ruling and will appeal the decision immediately. Reynolds says this summer, the Iowa and US Supreme Courts made clear there is no fundamental right to an abortion and the fetal heartbeat law passed by representatives of the people should take effect.
