Iowa’s six-week abortion ban takes effect

A law banning almost all abortions after six weeks has gone into effect in the US state of Iowa.

The bill allows the procedure to be performed before early signs of cardiac activity are detected in the fetus or embryo, except in cases of rape, incest, fetal malformation and situations where the mother’s life is at risk.

The Republican ban was blocked after it passed last year and was upheld by the state’s Supreme Court last month.

It is one of the most restrictive policies enacted since Americans lost their national abortion rights two years ago.

Before Monday, Iowa allowed abortion up to 20 weeks into pregnancy.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision guaranteed the right to abortion before the fetus is viable (usually between 24 and 28 weeks), but nearly half a century later, the ruling has been viewed by the court as newly conservative. Send a majority to abolish it.

Iowa now joins a growing list of Midwestern states, including neighboring Missouri and South Dakota, that have enacted restrictions since President Roe overthrew the president.

The ban is expected to put pressure on health care providers in Illinois and Minnesota by forcing state residents to seek care in neighboring Democratic-led states that have moved since 2022 to maintain or expand abortion services.

“While our neighbors in Iowa are being denied basic rights, my message is clear: Your reproductive freedoms will continue to be protected in Minnesota,” Gov. Tim Walz said on X (formerly Twitter) The article stated.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called the six-week abortion ban “troubling.”

“In Illinois, we will welcome our Iowa neighbors to reproductive freedom and any care they need,” he wrote on the X.

Iowa Republicans passed the ban last summer after the same effort failed six years ago.

The legislation hinges on what lawmakers consider a “detectable fetal heartbeat” — a term medical groups say misdescribes the electrical pulses that mark early heart development.

But a lower court temporarily blocked the ban from taking effect after the vendors argued in a lawsuit that the ban violated Iowans’ constitutional rights.

The Iowa Supreme Court disagreed and dismissed the lawsuit in a 4-3 decision last month.

The state’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, who signed the bill into law, praised the Supreme Court’s decision at the time as “the victory of a lifetime.”

“There is no cause more sacred and worthy than protecting innocent unborn life,” she wrote in a statement.

But polls show Nearly two-thirds of Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights advocacy group, wrote on

“We already know Iowans are going to be hurt because of the harsh realities currently facing large swathes of the South and Midwest,” Nancy Northup, the center’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “If patients If they had the means, they would be forced to travel hundreds of miles from home to seek abortion care.”

With less than three months until the November election, Democrats hope to unite voters behind abortion rights.

“This morning, more than 1.5 million women in Iowa woke up with less rights than they had last night due to yet another Trump abortion ban,” said Vice President Kamala Kamala, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Kamala Harris wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Ms Harris pledged to restore reproductive rights.

Republican candidate Donald Trump says he is “proud to be responsible” for ending Roe and believes abortion should be decided by the states.

Since Roe was repealed, 22 states have enacted restrictions affecting more than one-third of American women, although the restrictions are generally unpopular.