On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled to uphold the state’s law protecting preborn children from being killed by abortion after about six weeks gestation (four weeks post-fertilization), when a prenatal heartbeat can be detected. Previously, babies were legally allowed to be killed up to 22 weeks gestation in the state.
A preborn child’s heart begins to beat by around day 22 after fertilization, even before it has formed four chambers.
“As the heartbeat bill finally becomes law, we are deeply committed to supporting women in planning for motherhood, and promoting fatherhood and its importance in parenting,” said Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed the law in July 2023.
The law first passed during a special 2023 legislative session that had been called in order to pass laws protecting preborn children. It prevents preborn children with a detectable heartbeat from being directly and intentionally killed by abortion but includes exceptions for children conceived in rape or incest, and for prenatal diagnoses that could cause death, as well as for medical emergencies (though induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child — is never medically necessary).
Iowa was the 13th state to pass such a law; however, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and other pro-abortion groups filed a lawsuit to stop it. Abortion advocates argued that the law would prevent most people from undergoing abortions because they don’t know they are pregnant until after six weeks. But by six weeks, the preborn child already has a beating heart, brain waves, and tiny hands that have begun to form. A state district court blocked the law just three days after it took effect, putting back in place the law allowing abortion up until 22 weeks.
Four state Supreme Court judges ruled on Friday that the six-week/heartbeat law is constitutional and can stand, stating, “We conclude that the [prenatal] heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life.” Three state Supreme Court judges ruled against the law.
Planned Parenthood is said to have expanded its locations in nearby states as a preemptive move to continue its abortion business on Iowa women if the court upheld the law. It doubled its ability to serve clients in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to a larger space in Minnesota.
