Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) on Monday signed a bill requiring a person to wait 24 hours before aborting in the state.
“I am proud to uphold the sanctity of all human life,” Reynolds said in a statement to The Associated Press. “I applaud the Iowa legislators who had the courage to stand firm and take steps to protect the fetus.”
The governor signed the bill about a week after it was passed by the state legislature, and Planned Parenthood and Iowa’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit in state court to prevent the measure from taking effect Wednesday. . The groups argue that the legislation could delay access to abortion for weeks and is similar to what the Iowa Supreme Court struck down two years ago.
The bill would require people seeking an abortion to make an additional clinical appointment at least 24 hours before their procedure. Planned Parenthood argues that the bill creates an “unnecessary burden” for Iowa residents seeking abortions and could delay a person’s access to the procedure for weeks.
“Many of our patients must drive four or more hours one way to receive abortion services, so this legislation will only create more obstacles to receiving care,” Erin Davison-Rippey, executive director of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said in a statement. . announcing the lawsuit. “It is difficult enough for many Iowa residents to access abortion services, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. This is clearly a political ploy to create barriers to sexual and reproductive health care in Iowa. “
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU noted that the state Supreme Court struck down a similar provision less than two years ago, when it rejected a 72-hour waiting period law.
“Just two years ago, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a law like this violated the fundamental rights of Iowa residents to seek an abortion,” ACLU Iowa legal director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement. “She recognized in that decision that mandatory delays and additional trips to the clinic do not change people’s minds, they only serve to try to embarrass women and put obstacles in their way. That precedent requires that this law be repealed.
A Reynolds spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a Louisiana abortion law that sought to require that doctors who perform abortions have “active admission privileges” in a hospital within 30 miles of their facilities.
.
