Iowa Supreme Court Allows Six-Week Abortion Ban to Take Effect

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state’s six-week abortion ban could be enforced, a decision that sharply limits access to the procedure and fulfills a longstanding aim of the state’s Republican leaders.

The 4-to-3 ruling vastly limited the time frame for legal abortions in Iowa — the previous standard was 22 weeks — and meant that many women may travel to nearby states like Illinois or Minnesota to undergo the procedure. For Iowa Republicans, the decision marked the realization of a long-held policy goal and vindication after previous setbacks in the courts. For Democrats, it was a painful reminder of how much political ground they have lost in Iowa and, they hoped, an election-year warning to voters across the country that Republicans would continue trying to limit abortion in places where they win power.

“There is no right more sacred than life, and nothing more worthy of our strongest defense than the innocent unborn,” Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that “I’m glad that the Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the will of the people of Iowa.”

State Senator Pam Jochum, her chamber’s Democratic leader, called it “a tragic day in Iowa history.”

“This despicable and dangerous ruling cannot be the last word on reproductive rights and personal freedom in Iowa,” she said in a statement. “Activist judges and anti-choice Republicans cannot be allowed to control Iowans’ lives.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the national right to abortion in 2022, state legislatures and courts have become central battlegrounds on the issue. Many conservative states, largely in the South and Midwest, have moved to ban or sharply limit the procedure, while other states have passed new abortion protections.