Iowa’s “heartbeat bill,” which made most abortions illegal once the baby’s heartbeat has been detected, passed in the legislature in May 2018 and the Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law. However, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU teamed up to challenge the law, and they asked a district court judge in an hour-long Friday hearing to forgo a trial and simply declare the law unconstitutional.
Ironically, the Iowa Supreme Court recently found that abortion is a fundamental right. Still, lawyers for the state argued the law should still stand because it isn’t a blanket ban. Martin Cannon, a lawyer from the Thomas More Society argued, “This bill does not ban one single abortion. Not one. It simply requires that all abortions be done earlier. If you’re going to have an abortion, do it promptly before the child reaches this milestone.” Planned Parenthood lawyer Alice Clapman opposed the bill because it doesn’t give women enough time to decide if they need an abortion. “You cannot recognize this right as fundamental, recognize how important it is to have that freedom, and then allow the state to come in and ban it,” Clapman said.
