Iowa 6-week abortion ban signed into law

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Friday signed Iowa’s new abortion ban into law, effectively outlawing most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

The ban will take effect immediately, further eroding abortion access across the Midwest, where it is already extremely limited.

“I have never been prouder to sign a bill into law,” Reynolds said while signing the bill at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa.

The GOP-led state legislature passed the ban earlier this week after an all-day special session, and the law is already facing a legal challenge.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the Emma Goldman Clinic and the ACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit in district court less than 12 hours after the bill passed Tuesday.

The state passed a nearly identical version of the law in 2018, but it was halted by a court because Roe v. Wade was still in effect. Last month, the state Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 on whether to let the law take effect.

Abortion is banned in almost all cases in the neighboring states of Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin, though the Wisconsin law is being challenged. 

The Iowa law bans abortion after an ultrasound detects fetal cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy. It contains limited exceptions for the life and health of the woman as well as exceptions for certain survivors of rape and incest, so long as the cases are reported to law enforcement authorities. It also has exceptions for fetal abnormalities that are “incompatible with life.”

Reynolds signed the bill at the Family Leadership Summit, where former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was interviewing several 2024 GOP candidates, including Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.