Iowa GOP lawmakers say it’s up to court to act first on abortion limits

 DES MOINES — Any moves by lawmakers to further restrict abortion in the state likely will wait on an Iowa Supreme Court decision on whether to reinstate a blocked law that would ban the procedure except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

Leaders in Republican-led Legislature say they're waiting to see how the court case plays out before taking any more steps to restrict abortion in the state, including pushing ahead with an amendment to the Iowa Constitution.

Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion rights advocates hope the court will use the case to set a more permissive legal standard for considering abortion restrictions after the U.S. and Iowa supreme
courts struck down abortion rights protections last summer.

The Iowa Supreme Court in June reversed it 2018 decision, now saying the Iowa Constitution does not provide a fundamental right to an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court soon after reversed the decades-old Roe v. Wade decision, removing the federal right to an abortion and sending the issue back to states.

“But (Iowa Supreme Court justices) haven’t said what standard they would use to view any new potential laws,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Grimes, said in an interview previewing the 2023 legislative session, which begins Jan. 9.

“And so at this point, I think it’s prudent for us to wait and see how that case shakes out in the (Iowa) Supreme Court before we continue to act,” Whitver said.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, agreed.

"We want to be very thoughtful in our approach to this,“ Grassley said of House and Senate Republicans and the governor’s office.

“We don’t want to pass a bill just to pass a bill,” he said. “Our caucus has demonstrated for as long as I’ve been a part of it that we are pro-life and we want to protect the unborn. … But I would like to see us get some more clarity before we move forward. There’s no reason to rush this during a two-year General Assembly.”

Reynolds pushes to reinstate ban

Supporters of the law say the presence of a heartbeat indicates life. However, medical experts say a heartbeat cannot be detected until closer to 10 weeks of pregnancy. What an ultrasound detects at six weeks is not a heartbeat but electrical pulses, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and that the embryo is not yet a fetus and has only begun forming a rudimentary heart.

Opponents, including Planned Parenthood, say the law restricts a woman’s ability to make decisions about her body with her doctor, and would block more than 98 percent of abortions performed in the state.

“Even the supposed exceptions it had for rape, incest and the life of the woman were poorly written, and extremely narrow, such that they would fail to protect people in those extremely difficult circumstances,” said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. “The outcome of this case could not matter more to the health and basic rights of Iowans.”

Abortion remains legal in Iowa until 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions after that only to save the life of the mother.

The state Supreme Court this June also allowed a 24-hour waiting period previously blocked by the courts to take effect, requiring two separate appointments in order to get an abortion.

There were 3,761 abortions in Iowa in 2021, according to preliminary data from the state department of public health, a decrease of about 7 percent compared with 2020, when 4,058 abortions were performed in the state.

The overall rate of abortions has declined in Iowa and across the nation over the past 30 years, according to state and national data.

GOP dropping push for amendment

Republican leaders also said they do not plan to push forward a bill this year that would enshrine language in the Iowa Constitution stating it does not protect the fundamental right to an abortion.

Lawmakers approved the language for the amendment during the 2021 legislative session, and would need to be passed again in 2023 or 2024 for it to appear on ballots before voters in 2024.

Similar proposed amendments elsewhere failed last year at the ballot box, including in the Republican-led states of Kansas and Kentucky.

Whitver and Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, who led passage of the constitutional amendment bill during the 2021 session, said the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the constitutional right to an abortion renders the need to pass an amendment “moot.”

“We don’t, at this point, believe the life amendment is necessary,” Holt said, adding he agrees with Whitver and Grassley to wait on a court decision on the “heartbeat” law before pursuing other abortion measures, such as legislation that would define life starting at conception.

Maggie DeWitte, executive director at Pulse Life Advocates (formerly Iowans for Life), said the nonprofit advocacy group nonetheless plans to push such a bill this session that would effectively outlaw all abortions in the state.

With the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the fundamental right to an abortion under the Iowa Constitution, “we can then go forward in pushing common sense regulations and restrictions for the welfare of our Iowa citizens,” DeWitte said.

“When you look at what happened in the (2022) election, the people of Iowa spoke very loudly and very clearly in terms of Republicans having a super majority,” and retaining their “trifecta” of controlling the House, Senate and governor’s office, DeWitte said.

“And, by and large, the No. 1 platform of the Republican Party is life,” she said. “And so I think the people of Iowa spoke very clearly this last election that abortion is very important to them, and they do want to see restrictions and elimination of abortion here in our state.”

Democrats focus on protecting abortion rights

Statehouse Democrats, whose ranks shrunk following the last election, said they will fight any efforts to further restrict abortion and will work to protect and defend reproductive freedom in the state. That includes codifying a fundamental right to abortion in the Iowa Constitution, which would require Democrats to win back majorities in both the Iowa House and Senate, and hold those majorities through a second election so they could pass a proposal, which would then go to Iowa voters.

“I’m not at all confident that it will succeed, but that doesn’t mean … we throw up our hands and say we’re not going to fight for it anymore,” said Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights. “So we introduce legislation that shows what we care about.”

Konfrst said she fully expects Republicans, emboldened by their larger majorities and recent court decisions, will move ahead with further abortion restriction this session regardless.

“I just don’t see them being able to stay silent on this issue when they have these majorities and they have the governor’s support here,” she said.

House Democrats, Konfrst said, will fight to ensure any abortion measure put forward does not also restrict access to birth control, in vitro fertilization and fertility treatments, and includes exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.

More than 60 percent of Iowans support legal abortion in most or all cases, according to an October Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, mirroring national polling.

“I am not confident that Republicans will take that point to heart and legislate on this issue based on where Iowans are,” Konfrst said. “I think they’ll legislate based on where their extreme base is.”

Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville echoed Konfrst.

“Democrats are going to defend personal freedom for every Iowan whose right to make their own health care choices is under attack from extreme Republicans attacking reproductive freedom and choice,” Wahls said. “We know that the Republican agenda is to ban abortion either after six weeks or altogether if they can get away with it. They are playing a dangerous game with people's lives and I don't think that Iowans are going to stand for that.”