Des Moines, Iowa — There was interest inside and outside the courtroom as the Iowa Supreme Court held oral arguments on the fetal heartbeat law.
A group of people who back the law gathered in the parking lot of the Judicial Building at noon Thursday to pray and then entered the courtroom for the arguments. Opponents of the law held a rally on the courthouse lawn.
That’s Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of North Central States.
House Speaker Pat Grassley says he’s not offerning any predictions, but he’s hopeful the court will uphold the law he and other House Republicans passed last July.
Other Republican lawmakers who voted for the law in July were in the courtroom.
That’s Senator Sandy Salmon of Janesville. Salmon also voted for the 2018 six-week abortion ban that the Iowa Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.
After the legal arguments were over, the legal director of the ACLU of Iowa told reporters it’s never wise to speculate about the questions the justices asked. Peter Im (EEM), an attorney for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told reporters they’re hoping the Supreme Court sends the case back to the district court.
The Iowa Board of Medicine has developed rules for how it would administer the law if the court lets it go into effect. The law does include exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest and for medical emergencies that endanger the life of the pregnant woman. The law also allows abortion when fetal abnormalities are fatal.
