Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court has denied the governor’s request to rehear an abortion case that was decided less than a month ago.
On June 17th, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a 2018 ruling that said women had a fundamental right to an abortion under the Iowa Constitution. Following that, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade the next week. Last Friday, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds asked the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear the case involving a 24 hour waiting period for abortions and adopt a new standard that would make it harder to find that abortion restrictions are unconstitutional. The state court’s refusal to rehear that case means the 24 hour waiting period for abortions in Iowa is likely to go into effect late this week.
Current Iowa law allows abortions up to the 20th week of a pregnancy. Governor Reynolds is asking an Iowa District Court to reinstate a ban on most abortions after the sixth week of a pregnancy.
