Monday 4th November 2024

Governor Kim Reynolds says she’ll appeal an Iowa district court judge’s decision that blocks a law requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortions in Iowa. The law was passed in 2020, but it never took effect due to the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Reynolds says the district court’s ruling found the requirement similar to the 72-hour waiting period the Iowa Supreme Court struck down in 2018.

In 2018, the state Supreme Court declared a 72-hour waiting period unconstitutional. The justice who wrote the opinion died in 2019 and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds has since appointed a majority of the justices on the court. The A-C-L-U of Iowa’s legal director says she’ll argue the precedent of that 2018 ruling still stands. Reynolds, in a written statement, says she’s confident of a win when the case reached the Iowa Supreme Court.