Iowa court permits heartbeat law to go into effect; bishops welcome decision
July 02, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: The Iowa Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, has reversed a lower court decision that had prevented the state’s fetal heartbeat law from taking effect.
The law protects unborn children from abortion once a heartbeat is detected. There are exceptions for rape, incest, and “medical emergency.”
“Abortion is not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution,” the Iowa Supreme Court ruled. “The fetal heartbeat statute is rationally related to the state’s legitimate interest in protecting unborn life.”
“We celebrate that the Iowa Supreme Court has recognized there is no right to an abortion to be found in the Iowa Constitution and, in so doing, has lifted an injunction against the law that would prohibit abortions after a heartbeat can be detected,” the state’s bishops said in a statement. “As a state and as a society, we should commit ourselves to working for the protection of all vulnerable populations from violence—wherever individuals and groups are at risk.”
“We urge people of good will in Iowa both to work for an end to the practice of abortion and to join us in tireless, unremitting and compassionate solidarity with pregnant women in distress, with the men who fathered these children, and with families in need,” the bishops added.
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