Iowa’s state Supreme Court on Friday struck down a state law that required women to wait 72 hours before getting an abortion, arguing it violates the state’s constitution.
The 5-2 decision reversed a ruling from a district court upholding the law that had been passed last year. It is the latest anti-abortion legislation to be struck down, as a controversial law that bans abortions after six weeks also was reversed by a federal judge this year.
The ruling said the state has a “legitimate interest” in informing women about abortion. However, the law that requires the waiting period “does not meaningfully serve that objective,” the ruling said.
“Because our constitution requires more, we reverse the decision of the district court.”
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland had challenged the state law.
The ruling comes as anti-abortion groups are hoping to get more favorable rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court after the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. The centrist justice famously upheld the controversial Roe v. Wade decision in the 1992 case Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
Kennedy was seen as a bulwark against rollbacks of abortion rights, but anti-abortion groups are banking on President Trump nominating a more conservative justice.
